by Vaughan Thomas, RMT London region chair (LUL)

It’s early November and the view from the 23rd floor offices of Euston Tower must be one of the best in London. Low clouds obscure the top of the adjacent Post Office Tower but the “belly of the beast” – the City of London – is clearly visible in the distance; a constant reminder of the reason we are here at ACAS, deadlocked over pay.

The global financial crisis has had enormous repercussions for working people in all walks of life, in both the private and public sectors.

Even the Underground, which in recent years has tended to be insulated from the worst problems due to massive government investment, is feeling the pinch. And it’s the workers at the bottom who are being pinched hardest. This time, more than any other, it’s important that the transport unions stick together to fight management.

Productivity on the Underground has been increasing constantly for years: more passengers carried year on year with revenue exceeding expectation and staff working harder for no extra money. Twice in recent years Underground Lines have won the Railway Operator of the Year Award. But there has been no financial reward for the people on the front line – in fact this round of pay talks has resulted in an offer of just 1.5% for this year and 0.5% for next and redundancies are on the horizon.

A campaign by the RMT earlier this year prevented London Underground Ltd implementing a programme of compulsory redundancies but other trade unions on the Underground were noticeable by their absence. Aslef, “the train drivers’ union”, instructed their members to cross our picket lines though to their credit many of their members refused to do so. Nevertheless, some of their shop stewards and branch officials not only scabbed but encouraged their colleagues to scab as well. Now all unions have been invited to ACAS for last gasp talks and the RMT, locked in a separate room, are wondering whether Aslef will continue their unscrupulous, sectionalist behaviour.

Three hours into the talks and the signs aren’t good; Aslef’s sucking up to management is already paying dividends. Hilariously, their lunch consists of a sumptuous spread of baguettes, rolls, sandwiches and chocolate cake; the RMT has to make do with a tray of sandwiches and a plastic cup of grapes. Is someone, somewhere, high up in Employment Relations trying to tell us something?

The answer arrives shortly when we are informed that Aslef has already done a deal with management. Without even inviting the other unions in to the negotiating room, despite the fact that the RMT represents more than 50% of drivers on the Underground, LUL have signed off a deal with Aslef which will benefit drivers to the exclusion of other staff. The TSSA delegates are so incensed that, despite already having voted to accept the pay offer, they now walk out of the building declaring themselves in dispute. This is the first time in the history of ACAS that a trade union has arrived at Euston Tower with a deal, but left without one.

This year’s wage talks have been incredibly convoluted; the RMT submitted its comprehensive claim in November of last year which included a substantial wage increase and a guaranteed job offer for members of staff who become unfit for safety critical work. Other unions submitted less detailed claims, but historically all settlements have been across the board, for the benefit of all staff. We had no reason to think this year would be any different, but 12 months down the line the old order lies in tatters as sectionalism replaces solidarity. Aslef have stolen our clothes by achieving a guaranteed job offer – but for drivers only. “Workers of the World Unite” has been replaced by “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” above the door at Aslef’s head office.

What now for working class solidarity on the Underground? Is Aslef, with its proud history of militancy and industrial struggle, now morally as well as financially bankrupt? Will their membership continue to decline as their surviving militants get fed up with yellow trade unionism? The RMT membership in the London Transport Region continues to grow as people realise that we are the only union prepared to fight for decent wages and conditions for all grades. Can we successfully take on and beat the Underground, the Government and Aslef?

We’ll certainly have a damned good go at it.
Watch this space…

Don’t scab for the bosses
Don’t listen to their lies
Poor folks ain’t got a chance
Unless they organize
Which side are you on boys?
Which side are you on?
Pete Seeger

by Chris Kane

The National Union of Rail Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) have called a 48-hour strike forJune 9th to 11th on the London Underground and Transport for London after workers voted by a huge majority to take action over pay, jobs and justice.

Transport for London is cutting 1,000 jobs, tearing up previous agreements on no compulsory redundancies. TfL are trying to impose a five year pay deal starting with a derisory 1% and for 2009 and RPI+0.5% for the next four years. This amounts to nothing more than a pay cut year after year, they refuse even to consider the RMT’s one year pay claim. Across the London Underground management have been engaged in a campaign of bullying and harassment of staff, ignoring established procedures on discipline and attendance. All this amounts to a premeditated bosses offensive against the RMT, the largest union of rail workers. The conduct of management has been nothing other than a provocation, the Tories want a fight – they have even brought in a union busting firm of consultants from The Burke Group.

This dispute is the first round of a fight with a Tory Party intent on carrying out wide scale cuts in the public sector. Whilst some sections of our movement are currently obsessed by the events of the Westminster Village they need to wake up to the reality of what is at stake in this dispute – if the strongest section of the trade union movement, both politically and industrially, suffers a defeat it will be a set back for the entire movement.

All members of the labour movement need to mobilise in solidarity with the RMT: on this anniversary year of the Great Miners’ Strike, we should remember the important principle that you don’t cross picket lines! Decades of the anti-union laws and the union bureaucracy’s accommodation with them have led to the false belief that members of other unions can legitimately break strikes. This despite the fact that for years the other Tube unions ASLEF and TSSA have benefited from the strength of the RMT to secure deals for their members. This same approach is being repeated: ASLEF have instructed their members to cross picket lines, a divisive and potentially disastrous route as a defeat for the RMT will inevitably leave the weaker TSSA and ASLEF members complexly vulnerable.

The RMT has issued an appeal to ASLEF train drivers to take a principled stand, which The Commune publishes below.

Dear Aslef Member

I am writing to you as a fellow Train Operators to ask you to support our strike action which will take place from June 9th to June 11th. I am not asking that you leave Aslef to join the RMT; all I am asking is that during this dispute, members of both unions stick together. After all, we have a lot more in common with each other than we do with LUL management. LUL’s boss, Boris Johnson, has a deep seated political hatred for all unions and an ideological aim of seeing us broken on the Underground. We cannot afford to allow this to happen.

Industrial relations under the previous Mayor of London, whilst not ideal, were a lot better than they are with the current administration. All over London Underground, members of both unions are facing unprecedented attacks on our conditions; bullying, harassment and victimisation by management are on the rise; management are ignoring policies and tearing up agreements. This won’t be stopped by ignoring it.

We are also, as a grade, in danger of sleepwalking into a 5 year cycle of wage cuts in real terms. LUL claims that because of uncertainty in the world’s economy we need a 5 year deal to provide stability: this is the economic theory of the lunatic asylum! If none of the world’s so-called experts know what is going to happen in the next 5 months why should we be tied down to a massive 5 year deal? It is also no coincidence that a 5 year deal takes us beyond the London Olympics.

I don’t know why your Trade Union leaders have so far failed to challenge LUL on its proposals. They may believe that if they wait long enough Gerry Duffy, the LUL employee relations director, will have a change of heart. The problem here is that Duffy is no longer in charge – Johnson is. And while your leadership is waiting, the management is preparing for an all-out assault on your wages and conditions. We in the RMT don’t believe we can afford to wait any longer – we have to take them on to protect what we have.

I realise that losing money through strike action is something that nobody wants, but the alternative – to allow LUL and the Mayor to get away with wholesale assaults on wages and conditions – will be far more costly in the long term. I urge you to support us by joining the RMT for the duration of the strike – that way you are legally protected from any management victimisation. Train operators on the Vic Line have shown that members of both unions working together can give LUL a bloody nose; imagine what we can achieve by members of all unions standing shoulder to shoulder across the combine!

UNITY is STRENGTH – SUPPORT the STRIKE!