London Tube Workers Strike
London Underground tube mainentance workers went on strike today, as planned five weeks ago. The dispute is preciptated by the employer Metronet going into bancruptcy and the RMT union is campaigning for the maintenance of Transport for London’s undergound infrastructure to be brought back under public ownership. Labour Prime minister Gordon Brown and London Mayor Ken Livingstone both spoke out against the union but the strike was solid.
RMT leader Bob Crow welcomed last minute talks today:
http://www.rmt.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=100570
That is a positive development and we hope that Metronet and its administrator will now take our members’ legitimate concerns seriously.
Instead of shouting insults and pointing accusing fingers, all those involved should now recognise that those concerns need to be addressed.
It is five weeks since we gave the company notice that we were balloting over the issues involved, yet there was no sense of urgency until it became clear that our members were determined to win the unequivocal guarantees we are seeking.
Our members have shown their determination by delivering a rock-solid strike and, pending any positive outcome from today’s talks, it will remain on.
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Andy Roberts is a writer who initiated DARnet. Catch me on 
Seems like it’s all just politicking though. RMT want guarantees for their members that last beyond the administration period, but no-one is really in the position to give these guarantees (administrators have legal obligations to try and save the company, TfL don’t yet have any power except political influence).
The main point, which is positive, is that RMT, TSSA, TfL, the Mayor, and most Londoners, all want TfL to be given the maintenance contracts back to handle in-house.
TfL are going to apply to gain control of the two contracts. Whether they’ll get them, nobody knows…