Solidarity with London Underground workers! Tube strike reports/experiences...
Jun 10 2009 07:18
Alright all, just thought people could post their experiences of the tube strikes here. I just went down to my Overground station (Overground workers aren't on strike) for work and just watched train after train arrive completely packed out and decided that, in solidarity with the tube workers, I will not be going to work today either.. 
Also saw internal dialectics going on in one commuter's head: real city boy, swearing his arse off on the phone "these RMT cunts... going on strike... compulsory redundancies.. fucking bollocks..". Soon followed by laughing and "you idiot! Just do what I'm doing and tell them you can't come in to work today coz of the strike!". The capitalist ideology of work meets the latent tendency to its own refusal..
I went down yesterday to two pickets in north-west London, both were quite small (one had three people on it, the other more like five or six). Me and my housemates brought them some tea and chatted to them a bit, did a couple of quick interviews which I'll try and write up for libcom. Also dished out some copies of Direct Action and some libcom flyers.
Went down to one of the pickets again this morning, much more people on it today with flyers, stickers, banners as well.
Jun 10 2009 08:42
#2
is there any rank and file initiative? i have no idea of how the union works. what are the specific demands (what they want, not what they don't want). any potential of spreading the struggle and generally what do you think about the impact of 48 hour strike?
Jun 10 2009 10:10
#3
Jun 10 2009 10:23
#4
Perhaps people could post some messages of support and solidarity on some of the other media outlets forums and comments pages? More likely to be read and offer a divergent view to the 'why should I have to take the bus to work just so 10,000 union members can fight for better conditions' dross?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2009/jun/09/london-tube-strike
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=6568&edition=1&ttl=20090610114901
etc etc etc
Good luck. Seems to be having a reasonable impact, helped by the bizarre timetabling bureacracy of TfL bus services- we got kicked off the 141 this morning because he was running late and so couldn't afford to meet any of the stops till London Bridge. I was going to London Bridge but that didn't seem to matter! An hour and half longer commute than usual but people were reasonably good natured, including an american tourist who couldn't believe such things as transport strikes actually existed in the 21st century.
Jun 10 2009 11:34
#5
I remember reading an interview with a tube worker on here, and they explained why fare strikes aren't possible.
Does anyone know the full story on this?
Jun 10 2009 12:03
#6
Jun 10 2009 12:12
#7
Good luck to the underground workers, remember guys try use activistist tactics, maybe form a samba band. That will show them!
Jun 10 2009 12:13
#8
Django wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ze0nCPnhOc&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eguardian%2Eco%2Euk%2Fnews%2Fblog%2F2009%2Fjun%2F09%2Flondon%2Dtube%2Dstrike&feature=player_embeddedITN video on the strike, with some interesting comments from commuters and a really weird interview with a clueless tourist.
Thats a great little video. Everyone getting behind the workers.
Jun 10 2009 12:13
#9
Cheers Ed, that's the one.
What the worker says makes sense, as it's difficult to sabotage income with transport, what with Oyster cards now, and most people paying in advance. The loss of business up London is easy to overlook aswell.
But these things are very easy to be manipulated into being for already well paid tube workers and against the commuters. A fare strike would shite over unfair portrayals like that. Obviously easier said than that, especially if they're not paid and getting earache for it.
Does the running lines and tubes mean some workers haven't honoured the strike, or it wasn't the intention for a complete shutdown?
Jun 10 2009 12:35
#10
Edit: Never mind
Jun 10 2009 12:38
#11
MT wrote:
is there any rank and file initiative? i have no idea of how the union works. what are the specific demands (what they want, not what they don't want). any potential of spreading the struggle and generally what do you think about the impact of 48 hour strike?
In terms of the specific demands, I think they generally are about things they don't want. It's against management trying to tear up a deal promising no compulsory redundancies, against management bullying (recently a Bakerloo line worker was sacked for something which 18 other workers have done this year and kept their jobs - his coworkers think it is to do with harassing workers leading up to the strike) and against something like a four-year pay cut.
In terms of impact, it was pretty big at my end. This morning there were about four or five lines completely shut down with part suspensions on the majority of other lines. TfL are now claiming some lines are restarting (though the majority of lines are affected heavily by the strike).
As for rank and file initiative, there's a lot of that on the Underground. Speaking to workers on the picket lines last night they talked about having a lot of well-attended meetings on the strike and the London Underground Strike Committee. There's an article about it Direct Action, written (I think) by one Solidarity Federation member who's on strike today. Anyway, you can read that here for more info.
molly0000000s wrote:
Does the running lines and tubes mean some workers haven't honoured the strike, or it wasn't the intention for a complete shutdown?
No, sadly those running trains will be work of scabs for the day. Apparently ASLEF still has quite a large majority of train drivers and some of them have crossed picket lines. One RMT health and safety rep told me yesterday though that their plan is to try and stop drivers from crossing on safety grounds as signalers, track supervisors etc are striking. Will see how that goes though...
Jun 10 2009 13:00
#12
Thanks Ed!
Jun 10 2009 13:46
#13
Not sure if this is the right place to put this, so sorry if it's in the wrong place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X87OtOS80dM
Thought you might appreciate this video, seems relevant
Jun 10 2009 17:10
#14
Ed wrote:
MT wrote:
is there any rank and file initiative? i have no idea of how the union works. what are the specific demands (what they want, not what they don't want). any potential of spreading the struggle and generally what do you think about the impact of 48 hour strike?In terms of the specific demands, I think they generally are about things they don't want. It's against management trying to tear up a deal promising no compulsory redundancies, against management bullying (recently a Bakerloo line worker was sacked for something which 18 other workers have done this year and kept their jobs - his coworkers think it is to do with harassing workers leading up to the strike) and against something like a four-year pay cut.
yes that's pretty much it. There have also been widespread management abuses of disciplinary and grievance policies. The union reckons management are trying to provoke a strike - the employers offering a five-year pay deal, with four years of real pay cuts in it, when previously they have always had annual agreements, would seem to back this view up.
Quote:
In terms of impact, it was pretty big at my end. This morning there were about four or five lines completely shut down with part suspensions on the majority of other lines. TfL are now claiming some lines are restarting (though the majority of lines are affected heavily by the strike).
yes, the impact was pretty massive. The Northern line was running a pretty normal service, with ASLEF drivers. The Victoria line was running a limited service, which seems odd as it has a lot of RMT members as drivers. They may be a little strike fatigued however, as they have already been on strike twice this year. But most lines were closed, and all others were severely disrupted.
Quote:
molly0000000s wrote:
Does the running lines and tubes mean some workers haven't honoured the strike, or it wasn't the intention for a complete shutdown?No, sadly those running trains will be work of scabs for the day. Apparently ASLEF still has quite a large majority of train drivers and some of them have crossed picket lines. One RMT health and safety rep told me yesterday though that their plan is to try and stop drivers from crossing on safety grounds as signalers, track supervisors etc are striking. Will see how that goes though...
I read that RMT has 60% of the drivers. However, ASLEF does have most of the rest, and they have been critical of the strike. Although ASLEF drivers on the Victoria line didn't cross picket lines during the previous two RMT strikes on the Victoria line, and so completely shut it down both times.
So basically, some workers haven't honoured the strikes. The London Lite (very right-wing free paper) had its front page as "workers defy crows strike call" or something, but according to the London paper, only "scores" of workers went in, out of nearly 10,000.
molly0000000s wrote:
Cheers Ed, that's the one.What the worker says makes sense, as it's difficult to sabotage income with transport, what with Oyster cards now, and most people paying in advance. The loss of business up London is easy to overlook aswell.
But these things are very easy to be manipulated into being for already well paid tube workers and against the commuters. A fare strike would shite over unfair portrayals like that. Obviously easier said than that, especially if they're not paid and getting earache for it.
yes, while that may be true from a public relations point of view, as is explained it would be just as hard for the workers to do in terms of them losing pay. Added to that it would be much harder to enforce the strike, as there would be no way of telling whether workers were complying or not. There would also be hardly any disruption to London Underground caused, because almost everyone uses Travelcards. Even for people who didn't have Travelcards, they would still have to end up paying with Oyster prepay, because if workers at their destination station weren't observing the boycott and they didn't tap in, then they would be charged the maximum fare on their way out.
Finally, and most importantly, underground workers main power is to disrupt London's economy as a whole by slowing the move of other workers and capital around the city. Every day they strike costs business £100 million.
Public opinion is not key to winning strikes - disrupting the economy is.
Jun 10 2009 17:43
#15
Quote:
is there any rank and file initiative? i have no idea of how the union works. what are the specific demands (what they want, not what they don't want). any potential of spreading the struggle and generally what do you think about the impact of 48 hour strike?
I can't speak for today, but 20-odd years ago I had an eight month spell as a guard on the Northern Line. Things were brewing up then about pay parity between drivers on trains with guards and drivers of OPO (one-person operated) trains. The issue arose where OPO drivers - who were on a higher rate - were transferred to lines that had guards on trains, like the Northern and part of the Central Line. I attended a mass meeting at Waterloo involving drivers and guards, concerning this and other pressing issues, and the mood was militant and anti-union, with loud talk of autonomous action, with particular contempt being levelled at ASLEF. I had already left LUL's employ within two or three months of this meeting, but there were unofficial strikes in the spring of 1989 which, I assume, developed from these rumblings. I did write a piece with a short account of the meeting for Subversion (unpublished), the master copy's in the loft somewhere...
Jun 14 2009 22:20
#16
Picket line interview!!!
http://libcom.org/library/picket-line-interview-striking-tube-worker-june-2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ze0nCPnhOc&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eguardian%2Eco%2Euk%2Fnews%2Fblog%2F2009%2Fjun%2F09%2Flondon%2Dtube%2Dstrike&feature=player_embedded
ITN video on the strike, with some interesting comments from commuters and a really weird interview with a clueless tourist.