Tube Strike to Bring London to a Halt

Transport for London and London Underground workers are going to send London into a halt for 2 days next week. This decision comes after the groups voted to strike due to management bullying, pay cuts, and job losses.

Transport for London workers voted in favor of the action by 60 to 15, while London Underground workers voted in favor of the strike by 2,810 to 488, which is more than 85%. The strike is set to begin on Tuesday at 7pm and last for 48 hours.

Talks targeted to avert the 49-hour strike completely broke down early this week. The RMT accuses Transport of London of hypocrisy after the group rejected a 5% pay increase request, while Transport of London says the union has avoided to engage in meaningful talks. The RMT has also accused London Underground of failing to abide by a deal made to sure of job security and ruled out compulsory redundancies. The union has also described a 5-year pay offer from London Underground as unacceptable.

The RMT transport union members already took an overwhelming vote in April in favor of the strike. However, after the management took legal action, a reballot was called by union leaders. Now the members have delivered a blow to management by voting in an even higher proportion for strikes.

RMT members throughout London Underground had a meeting last week after the result of the ballot was announced. The members were mad at management for using the court against the union and initiating an offense on their representatives. Many believe that management stirred up the dispute in an attempt to crush the RMT.

Written by Tom Chiltton on June 3, 2009 · Filed Under Travel 

Comments

One Response to “Tube Strike to Bring London to a Halt”

  1. Gary on June 3rd, 2009 2:52 pm

    ‘London Underground workers voted in favor of the strike by 2,810 to 488, which is more than 85%.’

    Except that there are about 9,000 staff, so it’s not 85% of the staff who voted to strike, it’s only 85% of those who voted. It’s actually about 1/3 or slightly less, of the total number of staff who have decided to shut down London - hardly a majority by anyone’s standards.