Sir, While I respect the right for people to withdraw their labour if they feel they are being treated unfairly, it is absurd that Tube workers are complaining about their plight when thousands of individuals have lost their jobs during this economic downturn. Going on strike at this time, essentially for the right to guaranteed job security and above-inflation pay increases, is truly laughable. If Tube workers refuse to work for their salaries, let them leave. Why not recruit from the bulging numbers of unemployed? While some roles would require a degree of technical expertise, the vast majority could be filled by redundant professionals after training.
Above-inflation salary rises can be underpinned only by one thing — rising ticket prices.
C. Lis
London SE3
Sir, I do not believe that the current strikes are justified, nor do I believe that their duration is reasonable. What galls me further is the lack of picket lines at the five stations I cycled past this morning. This shows a lack of courage among their members to face the public and communicate the reasons for striking. Or perhaps they have all had too much trouble in getting into work?
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Michael Attwell
London N22
Sir, RMT spent 17 hours in talks with London Underground management to settle this dispute and avoid the strike action that members had voted for (“Crowing over London,” June 10). Yet LU refused even to acknowledge the existing policy committing the company to no compulsory redundancies for all grades. This leaves us with the threat of 3,000 job losses, a real-terms pay cut and managers continuing with a regime of fear and intimidation against staff.
RMT members are not prepared to tolerate this or to see their workmates put out of work. If I failed to act on the mandate given to me to represent them I would, indeed, be voted out of office as your leader writer demands.
We would not be in this mess if Tube infrastructure had not be privatised. The collapse of Metronet, which left the public with a £400 million bill, has meant that staff have been brought back in-house and we are simply asking the employer to give them the same protection as other staff.
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You also mentioned that I stood in the Euro elections as a candidate for No2EU. I did stand in opposition to the EU’s privatisation agenda, but to claim I’m a xenophobe is nonsense and has no basis in reality.
Bob Crow
General Secretary, RMT