Boris Watch

Going well, I see.

About 10,000 London Underground workers will vote over strike action in a pay and job cuts dispute, the Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) has said.

London Underground (LU) has said 1,000 jobs will be lost at the firm and several hundred more are likely to be axed at Transport for London (TfL).

…

London Mayor Boris Johnson said: “It will do absolutely no good to hard-pressed commuters to have a strike in difficult economic times.”

It didn’t do much good to have my fares increased above inflation either, Boris.  Let’s see what his approach is – the Thatcher face-’em’-down way he adopted during the campaign or the quietly-give-in way that might avoid an embarrassing stand-off.  We’ve estimated before that he’s probably got enough goodwill for the former, but it will evaporate fairly quickly without positive results.  You can’t, in the end, close down the Tube to get rid of the unions.  Think what it’ll do to road congestion.

The RMT’s release also suggests non-too-subtlely that it’s PPP that they blame for the situation.  If Boris can’t persuade central government to stump up and can’t cut jobs and pay because of the RMT, all while seeing fare income drop off due to the recession, he really does start having difficult decisions to take, and very limited sea-room to maneouvre in.  On a brighter note, the London Overground dispute appears closer to resolution.

Apropos of nothing, I was at a wedding a couple of weeks back where the groom was a train driver and ASLEF rep.  I asked him what he thought of the RMT.  ‘Bunch of f***ing communists’ came the reply.  Solidarity alive and well there, brothers.

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