RMT: Put the tube strike back on and escalate


An RMT member

The six weeks of talks since the tube strikes early this year have exposed London Underground (LU). It continues to demand 953 job losses and another 900 front-line jobs will become managers. Every ticket office will be closed. There will be massive downgrading of work, loss of pay and displacement. LU has also tendered for driverless trains. There is no point in further talks without significant movement from LU. There is now a need to put the strike action back on and escalate it.

There is huge public opposition to the £4.2 billion in cuts and the resulting plans to close ticket offices and cut jobs and pay.

This was revealed during the two-day tube Strike in February and in the aftermath of Bob Crow’s untimely passing away.

The majority of working class people and even big sections of the middle class who have been hammered by the Con-Dem austerity and the bosses’ offensive will support workers when they take action to defend themselves.

We now have to go out and win support for further strikes among our members. We also have to restate our determination to defend those like Mark Harding who have been victimised for nothing other than carrying out their right to withhold their labour in a legal strike.

The question in front of our members is to escalate the strike action, otherwise we will have to pay the consequences in job and pay cuts, casualisation and driverless trains. The future of all workers on LU is now on the line. It’s time to fight again until we win!