Tube strike leader calls for more talks
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Independent Minds
The leader of striking Tube drivers called today for fresh talks to try to avert more misery for millions of travellers as he claimed that a deal to end the dispute had been "sabotaged".
Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, contacted conciliation service Acas to ask it to convene a meeting with London Underground (LU) managers.
Mr Crow said there was one outstanding issue, job security, which needed to be resolved before the industrial action could be called off.
The move came as millions of commuters and visitors to the capital suffered travel chaos because of a 48-hour strike which started at 7pm last night.
Thousands of England soccer fans will also have huge problems travelling to Wembley for tonight's World Cup game with Andorra.
Mr Crow, who joined strikers on picket lines this morning, wrote to London mayor Boris Johnson asking for a meeting and complaining of a "pack of lies" from LU.
He wrote: "This is my 31st year as a member of the RMT and a worker on London Underground and in all that time I have never experienced such dishonesty from any management that I have dealt with.
"The facts are that yesterday the RMT negotiating team and myself attended nearly seven hours of talks at Acas at the end of which I was confident we had the basis of agreement which could settle this dispute."
Mr Crow said there was an agreement to consult workers over a revised pay offer, and an agreement for Acas to study disciplinary issues, and an agreement on redundancies.
At 6pm last night, an hour before the strike was due to start, Mr Crow said he signed a document he believed would lead to the action being called off.
He said: "Then astonishingly at 6.35pm, whilst awaiting the final typed agreement, we were told by management that they had made a phone call and that they could no longer abide by the agreement - they reneged before the ink was even dry. We were stunned that management could be so dishonest.
"I have no doubt that the phone call made was to the Transport Commissioner or City Hall who instructed the management team to pull the agreed deal. It is an absolute disgrace that we should reach an agreement in good faith, only for that agreement to be sabotaged.
"Either your senior management are completely dishonest or have no authority to negotiate. Or it is the case that you have personally intervened to scupper the deal in the belief that a confrontation with Tube workers will serve your political agenda."
Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy described the claims as "utter nonsense", adding: "We called on the RMT leadership to attend Acas yesterday, but, despite us making progress on all issues, they decided to strike, rather than continue to talk beyond their own self-imposed deadline.
"The RMT leadership says we were close to a deal. If that is the case, then they should call off the strike, return to talks and resolve this issue without any more disruption to Londoners.
"We remain ready for talks at any time and anywhere, including further talks at Acas."
LU said trains ran on most lines today despite the strike.
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Comments
A newly qualified tube driver, by contrast, is immediately capable of driving a tube train, a vital, necessary and highly responsible job and so is immediately valuable and productive to the transport organisation that employs them. Their career prospects at this point are generally limited to driving trains of some form.
In the days when I was a passenger on the Heathrow to Edinburgh shuttle flight, the pilots were earning more money than I was and that did not bother me at all. I wonder if it bothers you when you fly.
Please read what I actually wrote:- "A newly qualified tube driver, by contrast, is immediately capable of driving a tube train,.."
"Graduates are on the ball the first time they step into an office"
They may be bright and bouncy but they are by no means 'on the ball'. I've spent my working life in industrial/commercial organisations that take many fresh graduates and they need lots of training in standard business operations and office procedures (as I did when I was newly graduated). Being a graduate qualifies you to think and learn to a high standard, it does not qualify you to do any job that you have just landed into.
If you want to live in a country in which people are paid according to how much you think they 'deserve', based on your perception of their 'moral worth', then you need to emigrate to that mythical country; or work very hard to change our current market-driven capitalist economy society. Good luck.
When footballers and bankers are forced to accept lower pay then I will accept the arguments against unions. When Fred Goodwin's contract is torn up and his bonus reclaimed then I will accept LU staff's contracts being torn up. I'm waiting.
If we did I don't think we'd actually support the reinstatement people found to have been grossly incompetent and I would question the sanity of anyone who did.
I believe in corporatism along German or Swedish lines. Britain however is a cut throat get what you can get society. It's the populations fault as they kept encouraging the Tories for years. It did not seem to occur to anyone that the 'little people' can bargain just as hard as Henry and Henrrietta in the city.
So far the a******** of England has had two goes at choosing a mayor, and on both occasions the result has said more about the crass stupidity of most Londoners that it has about the needs of the city.
I wouldn't let that disgraced ex Tory MP, ex panel show contestant near a union negotiation if he was the last man standing - even if he were on the side of the angels, his search for personal aggrandisement would be sure to make a pig's armpit of the outcome.
Your churlish insults about the mayor sums up the mentality of the "blame everybody else but yourself" brigade that the union seems hell bent on leading. During an economic crisis we should be helping each other, not fighting for petty wage increases on top of already very generous wages.
I bet you were outraged about the RBS bonuses, well this is equally outrageous to the lower earners out there.
Anybody saying this never happened under Ken is living in denial and shows more a political bias against Boris than commonsense of which it seems you have little of.
Tube drivers are very well paid - 40K for a job which pretty much anyone with basic qualifications can do after 6 or 12 months training http://www.mysalary.co.uk/average-salar
But considering that some of us over the last 10 years have not had a pay increase (I had to move jobs and then become self-employed to increase my salary) this constant expectation of employees - particularly public employees - with bullyboy unions behind them is a major irritation - it seems Thatcher let some of these irritating little reds slip through the gap. It is nice to know that with Labour on its way out the unions will no longer be bribing the government to do their bidding and hopefully are new government will crack down on the remains of these nasty little communists like Bob Crow.
The problem with averages is that to have an average there needs to be values lower as well as higher than the actual average. If the average is a mean, then outlying data can affect the average quite badly. For example, out of 24 persons, 20 people can be earning 12k yet only 4 people earning 50k, which gives an mean average of 18.3k, which is nearer 20k than it is 12k. To get a proper view of distribution and "average" wage you really need to also look at modes, medians, and standard deviations. Such figures can lead to rather misleading statuses. So even though the "Average" is 40k according to the website, the reality is that the majority of the tube drivers could be earning a lot less.
I myself have been denied a pay-rise this year, even one in-line with inflation, but I have made a conscious decision, along with the rest of my colleagues, not to take it the the union because we've all made our own personal assessments that if won't effect too detrimentally.
I cannot say that I know what the situation for the tube workers. As much as I cannot assume that they are all teetering on the poverty line, I can also not assume that they are all wallowing in cash with lavish duck-islands!
This country fought for the right to be represented and the right to take industrial action, and therefore not to face exploitation by our employers. Living in King's Cross, the site of the famous Tolpuddle March, is a keen reminder of that.
YES, the tube strike has caused chaos in London, but I believe that the system works and that there is good reason for the union to call a strike. It's easy enough to be annoyed because of the inconvienience that it causes us, but as long as we're not in a tube driver's situation ourselves, we really cannot comment.
However, I would like to think that even so, if anyone in this forum, supportive or un-supportive of the RMT's course of action, if faced with a similar situation that they have to fight for the right to be paid a decent wage, or work in decent conditions, then they would rally to their union representative, and seek a course of resolution via their union. If a strike is needed, then it will only take place if the force of the union and the majority of its members are behind you, and talks with the employer prove fruitless.
Personally I think drivers who strike should be fired. There are plenty of people happy to do their job if they are not happy (I have read that 500 people apply for each tube driver position).
And the difference between the RMT and our fiddling MPs is.....?
What do RMT members make, including overtime and pension?
They should shut up and get on with it or leave.
The RMT is just a vehicle for moaners that don't realise how luck they are.
Remote working systems can extend a company's unified communications and enable staff to work from home with the functionality they have in the office allowing staff to still be productive even if they can't get to work.
For companies forward thinking enough to have such a strategy in place, the tube strike will have little effect with business continuing as usual.
Maybe the events of 2009 will make businesses realise that their perceptions of home (remote) working needs to be changed.
Dave Paulding
Interactive Intelligence Regional sales director UK, Middle East and Africa
Still I'm sure with such a transferable skill... oh.
Seriously guys, remember this when you're all getting laid off because the network is being automised. Good luck on the dole.
"Any monkey can drive a train" - so what do you do in the year of training comrade, fit the shapes into the correct holes and have tea parties?
Sorry to tell you this but unions are a thing of the past and the sooner you people stop your bullying tactics to get your way the better. If the job is so bad perhaps you should step aside and let someone else do it?
Unions are not "a thing of the past"... for as long as there are people like yourself, with the same archaic views and darwinist philosophy. The RMT is actually growing in munbers you you just wish to be in, but you can't.. as you said yourself.. keep hoping on and off of jobs as you cannot find job security or the wages you earn are too little to scrap a decent living. Yes, good for Thatcher and Reagan have helped a lot your lot with their Neo-liberalism. Embrace it with all your heart and take it to your miserable grave. For the tiem being I will indeed fight for the welbeing of my fellow workmates to improve our lot. What I feel sorry is the ignorance in your "heart" and the selfish views that you uphold in your individualistic approach life.
Psychoanalysis would do you a great deal of help, in my view. However, the psycho-pathological paterns that you exhibit are not bad to the extent that you cannot live your life in a "normal" way, yet you could benefit a great deal if you sought some professional help. You would realise that you may become a happier individual.
Take care.
You missed my point about job hopping - I have better job security than ever before having a broader skill and experience base, and I don't scrape a living, I've more than doubled what I earn in the last 4-5 years so I have nothing to complain about.
Oh, Darwinism is not archaic and is also not a philosophy. Its probably the most important scientific theory we have and is still being expanded on and developed as we speak.
I personally feel the unions have ran their course, the changes they pushed for in society have now been enshrined in law and they only seem to exist to live out their strong arm tactics against public bodies which have "an unending supply of money". In private companies people know that there is strong competition and people in the second and third world who can do their job at a fraction of the cost, people have a stake in their own future and strike happy unions are more likely to be leading them down a path to the dole office.
I'll mention to my doctor about the psychoanalysis next time I see him. I'm happy enough at the moment but I can always use a little more happiness>
"I think you misunderstood me - I quoted your own reply where you stated "Any monkey can drive a train" - I think you probably meant to say "Not any monkey can drive a train"." No, I really meant any monkey can drive a train. And as I said, you are paid more for what you know and your concentration than what you do.
"You missed my point about job hopping - I have better job security than ever before having a broader skill and experience base, and I don't scrape a living, I've more than doubled what I earn in the last 4-5 years so I have nothing to complain about." I am happy for you here.
"Oh, Darwinism is not archaic and is also not a philosophy." Charles Darwin was not, as we use the term today, a philosopher, though he was often so described during his lifetime.However, my dear, for an encyclopedia of philosophy what is needed is a discussion of the impact of philosophy on Darwin's Darwinism, and the impact of Darwin's Darwinism on topics that both he, and we, would consider philosophical. You missed my point by refering to it as a phylosophy, I guess. Darwinism? stems from a conviction that if the concept of Darwinism has a set of principles, both scientific and "philosophical", that were articulated by Darwin and that are still widely shared by those who call themselves ?Darwinians? or ?neo-Darwinians?.
"I personally feel the unions have ran their course, the changes they pushed for in society have now been enshrined in law and they only seem to exist to live out their strong arm tactics against public bodies which have "an unending supply of money".In private companies people know that there is strong competition and people in the second and third world who can do their job at a fraction of the cost, people have a stake in their own future and strike happy unions are more likely to be leading them down a path to the dole office." It is difficult to debate about this over a few lines, but Unions have always battled to actually avert a 'race to the bottom' among countries willing to lower their labor and environmental standards to attract foreign investment, for instance. You may have improved your wages for the past 4-5 years, but if companies faced no oposition from unions you would certainly have agreements such as MAI springing all over the place. The Lisbon treaty is another example. You may be happy with your pay and conditions at the moment, but you have no job security. The only thing you may have on your side if your inteligence, capacity to adapt and flexibility. But trust me, there is always someone a bit brighter than you who is willing to work for less and with bare minimum working conditions.. and your employer will not think twice, or bother whether you have a family to feed or a mortgage to pay. To expect a business to have feelings is like asking a building to have feelings... impossible. You mention about nurses.. well, what was the government's answer to the shortage of nursing in the UK? Bring nurses from the South Asia.. cheap and ready to go. Why not pay more so that we encourage more people to join in? No, let's cut taxes, they say! The answer from people like Friedman is tax cut: ?I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it's possible.? More cash for shareholders I guess.
"I'll mention to my doctor about the psychoanalysis next time I see him. I'm happy enough at the moment but I can always use a little more happiness." It is a moment of self discovery you will never regret.
I'm always amazed at the power of social media in communication. What would this world be without Twitter?!?
Chris Tolmie - Unified Communications Marketing - Nortel