As well as a loud ânoâ to cuts proposed by the ongoing KPMG-led audit of Transport for Londonâs finances, Tube workers and our unions also need to spell out our âyesâ. Weâre unlikely to get that kind of vision from the âindependent reviewâ London Mayor Sadiq Khan has commissioned to run in parallel.
RMTâhas produced its own submission to the TfL review, making the case for public funding, public ownership, increased staffing levels, and the in-housing of all services. Itâs a useful contribution to discussion, but needs to be connected to an active campaign with roots in workplaces. It also sets its sights far too low in proposing that TfL be funded by âgovernment borrowingâ, rather than advocating increased taxes on the rich.
Public transport is a necessary service, that should be socially provided.
Prior to the pandemic, 72% of TfLâs income came from fare revenue, compared to just 38% for the New York Subway and Paris Metro. Part of the Paris Metroâs funding comes from a ring-fenced payroll tax on businesses and corporations that benefit from its operation. Thereâs no reason why similar models couldnât work here. It will take sustained political and industrial campaigning to force these concessions from government, which we canât conjure up at will.
But we must turn our âdefensiveâ battle against whatever cuts the KPMG-led audit recommends into an âoffensiveâ fight for our own vision.
Step one is to stake out a clear position: fight every single cut, resist any sell-off. Driversâ union Aslef has been quickest out of the traps, balloting its members from 26 August to 17 September. Their dispute is around the mild demand that LUâabides by existing agreements and the âmachinery of negotiationâ. But the approach of preparing for industrial action pre-emptively, rather than waiting for the bossesâ assault and trying to it them off is the right one. RMT, TSSA, and Unite should launch their own ballots.
Some argue that itâd be more effective to wait until the KPMG audit presents its final report in October. But delaying just gives the employer, and the accountants conducting the review, time to get their ducks in a row. Getting out in front of whatever they propose will give us the best possible chance of resisting it.
There are significant challenges to building for, and taking, industrial action in the current context of the ongoing pandemic and profound economic uncertainty. The campaign to get the vote out in industrial action ballots needs to be led from the workplace. And the discussion about what action to take, and when, also needs to be bottom-up, based on democratic decisions taken by union branches.
Weâve kept London moving during a global pandemic. We must not accept that our reward for that is job cuts and attacks on our terms and conditions. Letâs fight back.
⢠RMT report here
⢠Tubeworker blog here
