Thread by @therubykid

Quick thread on today’s #TubeStrike, from an @RMTLondon rep (I’m not directly involved in the dispute, as I work on stations, but I’m in full support of my train operator comrades)…

The basic issues in the dispute are simple. When Night Tube was first proposed, LU said existing staff would work the night shifts. We (drivers, station staff, and others) said… no thanks. We struck, and won an agreement…

…which said LU would recruit a dedicated workforce on stations and trains to work Night Tube. That agreement was explicit that drivers would not have to work nights or additional weekends. LU is now ripping that agreement up, by abolishing the Night Tube driver grade.

https://twitter.com/bbctomedwards/status/1463808828944924678

No-one is being sacked, but jobs are being cut (as Night Tube drivers move into full-time roles, their positions will be deleted rather than being filled). One corollary of this is that part-time, including Night Tube, station staff who want to become drivers but need to…

…retain their part-time/Night Tube hours, for example because they have childcare or other caring responsibilities, are now basically precluded from getting drivers’ jobs. Grade consolidation closes off a line of career progression for part-time staff.

Think about your own work… if your boss suddenly said, “you now have to work night shifts and extra weekends”, would you just meekly accept that, or might you object?

And if you’re thinking, “I’d like to object but there’s nothing I could do about it; I’d have to live with it, so why shouldn’t the Tube drivers?”, then maybe what’s missing in your workplace is collective organisation that could challenge the imposition. You can build that too.

LU’s proposal will increase fatigue and damage work/life balance. It’s not in passengers’ interests to have Tube trains driven by fatigued drivers. If you want a safe, reliable Night Tube, you should support the #TubeStrike.

As an aside, the “automated/driverless trains” thing Tories and other anti-union folks call for every time drivers strike is not going to happen. It would take a huge engineering overhaul that would be hugely expensive and lead to a lot more disruption. Even LU bosses know this…

…the call is solely an ideological artefact wielded by people who want to break the power of organised labour. So unless you’re a Tory GLA member, who are mechanically programmed to repeat the call on a regular schedule, best to drop it.

There’s also an important wider context. “Grade consolidation” is really the first major salvo in what’s likely to be a barrage of attacks on our terms and conditions, impelled by LU bosses and the mayor agreeing to pass on cuts demanded by the Tories in exchange for funding.

They’re also preparing to cut our pension arrangements, change our attendance procedure and other policies, possibly cut jobs on stations and elsewhere, and more. This is bad for us as workers; none of it will benefit passengers, either.

When Tube workers strike, passengers are inconvenienced. That’s the reality of the work we do. Every strike impacts someone. The “holding London to ransom” narrative implies we should just “take one for the team”, and put up with whatever our bosses throw at us…

…in order to avoid inconvenience and disruption. If that’s your view, which workers do you believe *should* be allowed to strike? Only those whose actions don’t impact anyone? Do you really want a society in which employers have unchallenged power?

If you’re affected by the disruption today, don’t blame the strikers (and definitely don’t take it out on station staff and cleaners!), direct your anger towards LU bosses for provoking the dispute by ripping up agreements.

And if you want a safe, reliable, well-funded, properly staffed public transport system in London, you should support unions representing transport workers in our efforts to achieve exactly that. Join us at Parliament at 11 next Wednesday to demand it! rmt.org.uk/news/events/sa…