Workers' Liberty

The Tube workers' union RMT has called a strike ballot after London Underground management said that Tube workers who refused to work in conditions which they judged unsafe without a proper fire service would have their pay docked. The Underground bosses refused to give the union a guarantee that it would not take disciplinary action against those workers who took a stand for safety.


Many Tube workers - mainly drivers - took a firm stand for safety during the Fire Brigades Union strike on 13-14 November. Service was disrupted on nearly every line. The Government and the London Underground bosses know that similar action during an eight day strike will be powerful solidarity with the FBU. Not only will it give the FBU strike a massively greater economic impact - it will break the taboo on trade union solidarity action imposed in the 1980s by the Tory Government.

That is why the bosses are determined to take the risk of running the Tube without a proper fire service this time. The threat to public safety ranks lower for them than their class interests.
Management's claims that the job is safe are spurious. They have not even done workplace risk assessments for specific stations! They can produce all the statistics they like about the percentage increase in risk during strikes, but the fact remains: the entire fire safety system on London Underground depends on the availability of the fire service. The fire service is called out to the Underground eight times a day on average, 365 days a year. No fire service: no safe railway.
The RMT is right to resist. Every worker who refuses to work in unsafe conditions should be supported. RMT members should vote yes in the union's ballot.

Top marks for 13 November go to drivers on the Piccadilly line, where only ten out of 64 trains ran. The only service was a shuttle west of Acton. More than half of Northern line trains were cancelled. A clear majority of drivers from the Edgware Road depot of the Hammersmith and City line refused to drive, causing big delays and several station closures. The Waterloo & City line closed completely.

Track workers forced management into accepting strict rules that will make work run slowly - no hot work, one member of each gang to wait on the platform, no heavy equipment moved because escalators not used. On stations, some staff refused to work.

The action was best when rank-and-file reps and activists got their act together to organise and prepare. The advice from union head offices was not clear enough to be effective on its own: the work had to be done at a local level.
Rank and file coordination is still vital.