Wednesday 3rd June:
The RMT ballot result was on the news this evening when I was at work on a late turn. An 84% yes vote on a 47% turn out is a brilliant result, and shows that tube workers do not believe the hype which is being pumped out by the government via London Underground management. Ordinary rank-and-file tube workers understand only too well, by looking at the experience of the buses and the railways, exactly what happens when you get privatised. I have never been on strike before!
As soon as I heard the result I started discussing it with any of my work mates I could find in the messroom. The problem that we face is that, across the underground, less than 50% of the drivers are in the RMT, most of the rest being in ASLEF. And ASLEF members in my workplace seemed unsure what they were going to do. I was trying to persuade people not to cross the picket line and to respect our strike. If necessary they can take out RMT membership for the period of the dispute and tear it up afterwards if they want.
Thursday 4th June:
There were two meetings held for RMT representatives today, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The mood generally seems to be quite good, everyone’s very upbeat about the ballot result and optimistic about the prospects for the dispute. We discussed when the strikes will be (15-16 June for 48 hours) and the general feeling is that 48 hour strikes are a good move. Some discussion about the next step in the campaign, but the real decision will depend on how the first strike goes. We also heard that the General Secretary (elect) of ASLEF, Dave Rix, has sent a message of support for our dispute, which could be useful when talking to ASLEF drivers. After the meeting I took a whole load of leaflets and went out to talk to drivers on my line.
Friday 5th June:
Before I went to work at 5pm I spent most of the day working on how my RMT branch is going to organise during the strike. Also I went round talking to station staff — the mood is mostly pretty good and I was getting excited about the strike. In fact, I have been on a real high since the ballot result.
Tuesday 9th June:
I finished work pretty early today and met up with a couple of other activists from my branch to go round talking to people. It is really positive because although there are some people who say they will come in, there are many more, particularly those who haven’t been on the job long, who are unsure about what is going on and what the issues are. With these people I think we are making a real difference by taking the time to go round stations and depots talking to them and explaining what is going on, explaining that if they get any problems the union will back them up.
Thursday 11th June:
Going round again today. One of our members said it was really noticeable how the mood in the station picked up and became much more positive about the strike following the visit from union activists. The tragedy is that we are divided into several unions — never has the case for one rail union been more glaringly obvious to me. However I have hope that members of other unions will respect RMT picket lines, which is what we have been arguing to them. After all, privatisation will affect all tube workers irrespective of union or grade and we need to stand together. I think that, although we probably won’t completely shut the job down, we will hurt the service badly on almost all lines. We also need to explain to the public that we don’t want to make life awkward for them by striking, and that if the tube is privatised then the service will be far worse. In the evening there was a rally organised by the RMT to support the strike and to build the political campaign which we need, as well as an industrial campaign, to defeat privatisation. The turnout wasn’t brilliant but the atmosphere was good and we all made sure we’ve got our picket lines sorted out. I’m really looking forward to Monday and Tuesday (even though I’ll have to get up earlier to be on the picket line than I usually have to be to go to work). The feeling is really good and I’m very excited.
H.
