Workers' Liberty

Strike ballot result
Total: 1.369 (95.1%) yes, 70 (4.9%) no.
RMT: 1,123 (98.3%) yes, 20 (1.7%) no.
TSSA: 127 (77%) yes, 38 (23%) no.
Unite: 119 (90%) yes, 12 (10%) no.

Nearly 3,000 Metronet workers have voted to strike, in a great display of determination to fight and a welcome show of unity between the unions.

The administrators refused to guarantee that there would be no job losses, forced transfers or loss of pension rights. Metronet’s workers should not be made to pay for its management’s incompetence or for the collapse of the PPP system that they never supported in the first place. It is essential that this fight does not stop at jobs and conditions, but broadens into a fight to scrap the whole PPP disaster.

RMT defeated an attack from Metronet earlier this year. Key to that victory was the rank-and-file strike committee, which must continue for this dispute and incorporate the two small unions. The Executives should follow their wishes.

Strike action will probably have to be for at least 72 hours, as management can space out compulsory checks for up to 48 hours. And LUL staff should be ready to refuse to work on safety grounds when our Metronet workmates strike.

Leaflets explaining our case to the public are already in production, and will help mobilise the millions of Londoners who want the Tube reunited under public ownership. The unions should also link this campaign with others on the Tube. A major step would be to ballot all grades of LUL workers for strike action against the Ticket Office closures.