Strike action wins at Tube Lines

Tube Lines is one of the maintenance companies on London Underground. The recent strikes and subsequent victory for the workforce were, on the face of it, about pay, job security and changes to working hours. But, as in all disputes, this was not the full story.

Steve Hedley, Regional Organiser, London Transport RMT

For years, management have bullied the staff, disregarded agreements and treated the elected reps with contempt. The straw that broke the camel's back was management offering a derisory 1% pay offer and attempting to tear up people's terms and conditions.

The RMT initiated a ballot on the request of the reps and this resulted in over 90% mandate to strike. Unsurprisingly the pay offer went up to 3.5% and concessions were made on rostering. But there was no guarantee on jobs.

On the eve of the first strike Tube Lines bosses threatened to withdraw their pay offer if we didn't sign immediately. We were not about to blink first and sent them packing. The 48-hour strike over 23-25 July was a tremendous success.

Train drivers and some station staff refused to work on safety grounds as the emergency response unit was on strike. Senior management went into meltdown, threatening to sue the RMT regional organiser for instigating secondary action. The organiser explained that people were acting lawfully in refusing to work when they felt they were in serious and imminent danger.

Managers threatened to withdraw the legally enshrined refusal to work policy. This was met by demands from branches to ballot the whole of London Underground (LUL) on the grounds that management was trying to kill us. LUL backed down.

Then Tube Lines negotiators returned to the table, stripped of their former bravado, and offered 4.5% with RPI plus 0.5% for the next two years. They withdrew the roster change proposals and gave a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies on all operational staff and managers.

Donate to the Socialist Party

Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.

Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.

We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to click here to donate to our Fighting Fund.