As RMT members took their first in a series of strike actions in the run-up to Christmas, Socialist Party members visited picket lines all over the UK. The following reports sum up the mood of the pickets.
After reading our Socialist Party leaflet on the picket line in Swansea, one striker said: “We definitely need to all come out together, and a 24-hour general strike should be easy for the union leaders to organise. We are freezing this morning but we had our T-shirts on in the summer when our strikes started! Let’s get moving!”
Another in Coventry said: “Totally agree we need a general strike, and I reckon we’re heading for one”.
RMT pickets at both Leeds and Wakefield Westgate station were in no doubt that the government had deliberately intervened in the most recent talks to put forward conditions RMT members couldn’t possibly accept. They noted this belligerent attitude now extended to nurses.
Station staff working for Avanti at Birmingham New Street reported how they are now in a battle with management over staffing levels. This follows their union branch chair being hospitalised after being assaulted by a member of the public. Explaining that they are refusing to work any set of ticket barriers alone, one rep said: “This could have happened any number of times in recent years thanks to management not providing enough staff.”
A guard on Chiltern Railways told us: “I’ve still got the email from three years ago telling me we’d have to accept a year’s pay freeze, with better times later. It’s later on now – and my pay’s covering less than ever!”
Another added: “A lot of us hope that getting the Tories out might help us resolve this dispute. But will Labour be any better?”
Several commuters came up to the picket line at Victoria station, London to wish the strikers luck. Reps told us the action is solid – even if the Arctic wind meant not as many standing for hours on the freezing pavement!
One worker said she tells customers who complain about the prices: “You know those beautiful railways in Europe that you’ve seen on holiday? That’s what your ticket is subsidising. That and the shareholders!” Her opinion on the solution? “Nationalise it all. Take it all back. Rail, mail, gas, electric. They should never have privatised it in the first place.”
Another striker asked how we thought they could win. The various strikes that are on or about to start could maximise their impact by coming out on the same day. It’s the government behind this – we should build towards a 24-hour general strike. He bought three copies of the Socialist for himself and two other pickets, donating £2 on top.
A dozen striking workers held the line outside King’s Cross station in London. Employed by LNER, they were nationalised due to private sector failure in 2018. “We don’t have shareholders in that sense,” said one picket. “The government is using the idea of reduced spending capacity after the pandemic to hold down our wages. But there’s plenty of money out there. They’re just not willing to tax the rich.”
Nor is Starmer’s Labour – let alone nationalise the rest of the network and other services. A striking worker who lives in Islington, Jeremy Corbyn’s constituency, when asked what they thought of Corbyn standing independently said it would be a good start, especially if other lefts facing exclusion joined him. Unions like the RMT should back their campaigns, not Labour’s.
