Workers' Liberty

Our current pay deal on LUL runs out next April, but the fight for a decent new deal must start now.

We can be sure that our employers and their political puppet-masters are determined to make workers bear the brunt of the looming economic crisis. They will demand that we tighten our belts, while theirs will remain as loose and well-filled as ever.

Gordon Brown has demanded pay cuts across the public sector while doing nothing to stop the obscene bonuses in the City, surely one of the reasons why working-class voters are deserting Labour. And with Boris Johnson now Mayor, the Tories staging a comeback, and LUL desperate for industrial peace for the Olympics, our pay fight is more important than ever.

We should not be apologetic about demanding better pay and conditions. We do a tough job, with anti-social hours, facing a high and rising cost of living.

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We must insist that rank-and-file members have a say in what pay claim the unions put forward. Usually, everyone just waits for head offices to tell us, or worse, the unions wait for management to make a crap offer before saying anything. That has to change – debate the claim in the branches over the next few months, then submit it and prepare to fight for it.

Tubeworker believes that the unions must demand a one-year deal only. Why? Because with economic uncertainty, we can not sign up to a ‘pay rise’ that might turn into a pay cut. Even an ‘inflation-plus’ agreement can lead to real-terms pay cuts if inflation rises and the pay rise was based on an earlier, lower inflation figure. We can not agree to put our weapons away for several years, as this will allow management to come after our conditions knowing we are disarmed. We have to be able to fight for improvements in pay and conditions year on year.

Mayor Johnson reckons he can persuade us to give up our right to strike and hand over our livelihoods to an ‘independent’ pay arbiter. No way. Ask workers in other public services what it is like having an ‘independent’ pay review. It’s funny how these bodies consistently award rubbish rises to workers but fat-cat salaries to Mayors!

We should demand:

• a flat-rate increase for everyone – say, a £2,500 across-the-board rise – rather than a percentage;

• an additional £250 to ‘consolidate’ the CSS bonus, which should be scrapped;
• a 4-day, 32-hour week;
• improvements in working conditions, such as paid leave for domestic emergencies;
• other improvements that a democratic debate will generate.

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And the strategy to win a decent deal? First off, the unions need to have one! It must include starting the process now, and submitting the claim by October so that there is a clear six months of negotiating and campaigning before the rise is due. If there is not an acceptable result by April 1st, we go into action. Tube workers are no longer prepared to tolerate seeing pay claims drag on for months and months beyond the due date.

The unions should, if possible, submit a joint pay claim and act in unity. This should include co-ordination with similar fights in the Infracos and other companies in the TfL ‘family’. We must not allow one grade to be bought off at the price of a poor deal for everyone else.

The unions must keep members informed and involved. There should be a rank-and-file strike committee that does not just do the legwork but has a real input into decisions.