Workers' Liberty

The strike has got off to a good start, with management unable to get services running until well into the morning peak, and then only little token shuttles which are mainly for PR reasons.

Yesterday came the shocking news that RMT and management had reached a deal at ACAS, only for management to "get a phone call" and pull out of it. Could this be BoJo trying to make the whole thing serve the interests of himself and the Conservative Party?! Tubeworker has not read this 'deal', and it could well be pretty lousy for all we know, but management have shown their true colours now: claiming to want a deal then backing out when one was on the cards. Mind you, we probably won't read about that in the Evening Standard, which seems to have abandoned any pretence at being a newspaper and opted instead to be a mouthpiece for the company.

Perhaps management hoped that the strike would collapse, thinking that staff will have listened to their anti-strike propaganda and that ASLEF could deliver them a service through their disgraceful letter to members telling them to break the strike. Unfortunately for them, most staff know when they are being spun a line and not all ASLEF members do as their leaders tell them: at some depots, several have respected picket lines and helped keep the action strong.

Sure there is some scabbing, but there almost always is. We can not let a handful of people who can not see past their next pay packet drag the rest of us down.

Pickets have in most cases been well-organised and lively. Tubeworker's special issue for the strike has gone down well.

This action has put a final nail in the coffin of the 24-hour gesture strikes of the past. Support is as strong as it has been for past 24-hour strikes, but at 48 hours, we come across as much more serious, and keeping the service running will become increasingly difficult as time goes on through the two days.

Keep it up!