rail
News and articles about work, policy and workers' struggles in transport and distribution around the world.
Interview with an RMT member: The New Year tube strikes
With two tube strikes in as many weeks, and more still to come, libcom.org conducted this interview with a long standing London Underground worker and RMT member on the eve of the second strike.
The interview is presented here in full.
Why are station staff striking?
Contrary to public perception, it has nothing to do with greedy drivers!
Strike and wildcat - a day on the Underground
The day-long strike of London Underground station staff ended last night, as 45 stations were closed.
In a separate action, the Northern Line - one of the busiest of the 12 lines - was shut down by the wildcat action of drivers who were supporting a sacked colleague
The BBC reported that when the strike ended at 1830 GMT a total of 19 stations remained closed and two tube lines were having delays.
The strike that shut down New York
A report and analysis of the strike of New York City transport staff that shut down the city for three days, and brought down all the government's anti-union laws on the workers. Despite this, strikers managed to win important concessions.
New York City’s nearly 34,000 transit workers shut down the country’s largest public transportation system last month in a three-day strike that became a battle between working-class New Yorkers and the bosses, politicians and ruling elite of the city.
New year's eve tube strike on safety and jobs
London Underground (LU) gate line, platform and ticket office workers struck for 24 hours on New Year’s Eve against the imposition of new working patterns and the issuing of “at risk of displacement” letters.
Daniel O’Rourke takes a detailed look at the action, the unions, the workers and the government.
As a result of the strike about 40 out of London’s 275 stations were closed, including Covent Garden in the heart of London’s West End and King’s Cross, one of the capital’s busiest stations.
P-P-Privatising the underground, and 'opposition'
As London Underground (LU) workers strike once again, Daniel O’Rourke looks at Labour’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme which is largely behind the recent problems
New year's eve strike account here:
http://libcom.org/news/article.php/underground-new-year-strike-04012006
NYC transport workers fighting cuts fined
A judge has imposed a $1m (£570,000) per day fine on New York's main transport union for a strike that has brought city transport to a standstill.
34,000 New York City transport workers are on an illegal strike, shutting down the entire city's transit system to oppose benefit cuts, despite large profits. Their Transport Workers Union is now being fined $1m per day that the strike continues.
From http://news.bbc.co.uk:
The 34,000 members of the Transport Workers Union went on strike after talks over their contracts collapsed.
Crossrail and Spitalfields
Following on from Corporate Watch's coverage of how Channel Tunnel Rail Link contractor Skanska is ignoring the concerns of local Stratford residents about dust pollution, we have been contacted by local residents who report of similarly damaging proposals in the East End of London.
Crossrail and Spitalfields
Saturday, November 19 2005 @ 01:20 PM GMT-1
from www.corporatewatch.org
Mayday 1999 - On the tube
An article and critical accoung about May Day - International Workers Day 1999 in London, which took the form of a demonstration on the Underground and concentrated on public transport issues.
Wildcat action brewing over the Laing O'Rourke 'contrick'
Workers employed by construction giant Laing O'Rourke are refusing the company's new pay and conditions deal.
Under the new contract or 'contrick' as it has been renamed by workers, pay will be halved, bonuses will be decided by management, a day off must be planned 40 days in advance and holiday pay could be cut by £20 per day for each worker. Management has told workers they will be sacked if they do not sign.
Castelhano, Mario, 1896-1940
A short biography of Portuguese rail worker and anarchist Mario Castelhano, who died in a fascist concentration camp.
Mario Castelhano, the Portuguese anarcho-syndicalist militant who had been director of the CGT newspaper A Batalha when its presses were destroyed by the fascists and its publication suspended, died in the Tarrafal concentration camp on 12 October 1940, as a result of a stomach complaint.
