A Start

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London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson, has asked the Prime Minister to consider bringing in a law requiring a minimum 50% participation in a strike ballot by union members which, he feels, will bring an end to the sort of expensive and disruptive strikes which have once again brought London to a standstill.

Whether or not you feel, as he does, that the latest strike by tube workers is a ‘nakedly political gesture’, it can’t be right that just a simple majority of members actually voting as presently provided by law can cause so much disruption. Something needs to give somewhere.

The CBI, who pointed out that only 33% of tube staff actually bothered to vote, would like new legislation to be introduced requiring 40% of balloted union members to be in favour of a strike.

At least that would be a start.
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The Two Extremes

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Two things at yesterday’s TUC Annual Conference grabbed my attention.

The first occurred as the Governor of the Bank of England rose to speak. This prompted the RMT delegation to walk out of the room and, instead of listening to what he might or might not have had to say, they went off to watch, or so it is reported, children’s television.

The second was the speech given by Merseyside’s Chief Fire Officer who pointed out that the public services were riddled with ‘bone idle people’ and that bosses needed to show ‘muscle, sack some people’.

There you have it in a nutshell. Common sense at one extreme and pointless childishness at the other.
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Pointless Invective

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The proposed strike by signalmen (but only after the Easter holidays which accrues overtime!) belonging to the Rail Maritime and Transport Union has been averted following the granting of an injunction to Network Rail.

The reasons behind the strike, said to be about safe working practices, have been temporarily set aside in the acrimony that has followed.

Following the granting of the injunction, the General Secretary of the RMT said, ‘This judgement is an attack on the whole trade union movement and twists the anti-union laws even further in favour of the bosses. Workers fighting for the principle of a safe railway have had the whole weight of the law thrown against them’.

His comments were reinforced by the General Secretary of the TUC. ‘It’s becoming increasingly easy for employers, unhappy at the prospect of a dispute, to rely on the courts to intervene and nullify a democratic ballot for industrial action on a mere technicality.’

Note that neither of these gentlemen referred to the anomalies said to be contained in the RMT ballot results which suggested that there were flaws in 143 of the 828 workplaces identified by the union, including votes from eleven signal boxes which no longer exist. Or that in 67 of the signal boxes polled there were more votes cast than staff actually employed.

By all means have a strike if unions and management can’t meet and resolve their differences, but let the ballots be transparent and honest.

In the meantime, throwing invective at the judiciary makes no sense and achieves nothing!
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All Aboard - Not!

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What a wonderful world we live in.

London Midland won the franchise to operate around 1,200 services with trains calling at 149 stations between London, the Midlands and the North West. In submitting its application to operate these trains one assumes that certain commitments were made - like to operate trains every day.

It transpires that it relies on its drivers to volunteer to run trains on Sundays, and that today most of them have decided to put their feet up and remain at home. The result is that London Midland have cancelled all but one of its routes because of a lack of drivers.

So thousands of people face chaos today just because London Midland’s employment agreements are ridiculous to say the least, and expecting staff to work an essential service on a voluntary basis is an astonishing state of affairs.

The General Secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union helpfully said, ‘Their contracts of employment say they haven't got to work on a Sunday. It’s their choice.’

Fair enough. But the government ought to look a bit more closely at this franchise and the silly way it is organised.
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