Mayor 'provoked Tube strike'
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Independent Minds
A Labour MP today said there was a "real suspicion" that Boris Johnson's fingers were "all over" the provocation of the strike on London Underground (LU).
Andrew Dismore (Hendon) said Mr Johnson, the Mayor of London, had "interfered" and caused a planned suspension of the strike to be lifted.
He told the Commons that the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union had signed an agreement on Tuesday evening to stop the strike going ahead.
But just 35 minutes later, LU management told the union they had made a phone call and could no longer abide by the agreement, he said.
During Commons exchanges on upcoming business, Mr Dismore said: "Could we have a debate to establish exactly to whom that phone call was made because there's a real suspicion that the Mayor of London's fingers are all over the provocation of this dispute.
"I think members ought to be aware if the Mayor of London interfered in this and caused the suspension of the strike to be lifted."
Commons Leader Harriet Harman said Mr Johnson should "play his part in bringing all sides together" to make sure that London's transport network was working properly.
She added: "What we don't need is megaphone diplomacy on any side, what we don't need is soundbites from people.
"What we need is a proper public transport system."
Mr Johnson's spokesman said: "The Mayor had no involvement in the negotiations.
"These were led by Richard Parry, the managing director of London Underground, whom the Mayor entrusted to deliver the best result for Londoners.
"The RMT leadership is being duplicitous when they say that there was an agreement on the table.
"In fact, only a version that the RMT were proposing existed. LU made the very reasonable request that the RMT suspend strike action so that this could be worked through.
"However the RMT leadership refused to continue or give the talks more time and walked out.
"Londoners will be infuriated by their behaviour and will join us in calling for the RMT to suspend this strike immediately and return to negotiations."
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Comments
Typical blame Mrs Thatcher always a good cheap shot.
Its good that we have a few MPs out there who are happy to stand up for ordinary people when somebody is trying to push them around.
The two groups actually fought a fairly well known war against each other some time ago, based on their philosophical differences.
By the way, am I the only one who finds it shocking that Bob Crow was a card carrying communist when the Berlin wall was UP? I mean, this guy's pedigree basically goes back to Stalin (and beyond). Members of his former union were going to East Germany to give speeches as recently as the 1980s. Why the hell does anyone listen to this guy? Or do I misunderstand what it means to be British these days?
We need more strikes like this and more people willing to take a stand against bullish and profiteering large corporations. People should look at the bigger picture instead of worrying about their own personal inconvenience for a couple of days.
We need more strikes like this and more people willing to take a stand against bullish and profiteering large corporations. People should look at the bigger picture instead of worrying about their own personal inconvenience for a couple of days."
Obviously an RMT member willing to lose 2 days pay for a hidden agenda either by Bob (no brainer thug) Crow or Boris (The Buffoon) Johnson.
In the current climate and so early in the negotiations the RMT should have called off this action, RMT members have lost money for someone elses personal crusade.
Shame for the RMT really that members of Aslef have trained negotiators saw sense and are able to trust their union thus turned up for work and effectively reduced a full blown strike into a bit of an inconvenience - they even got 58000 football fans home from Wembley during RMT's Action!!!!
Actually listen to what & how Boris spoke of this Trade Union action. NB Brown & Blair & Mandelson are not Labour.
If you were doing the work rather than throwing orders about, & were getting the pittance rather than the excessive payments + bonuses maybe you would understand where the trade Unions are coming from .
It seems the NHS 'management class' saw fit to make redundant the people doing the health work rather than the new 'management class' - not sure there is any class in their act !