Management are piling attack upon attack on Underground staff: security guards, agency staff, mobile supervision, direct recruitment of drivers, ticket office cuts and closures ... What they all add up to is casualisation and de-staffing. We all know that these will be a disaster for all grades of Tube workers. The question is: when will the fightback start?

The first answer is that for many rank-and-file workers, it has already started. Many of us have been out campaigning, particularly against ticket office cuts, and many have been discussing the issues at union branch meetings and in the workplace. Everyone recognises the implications of these attacks and is willing to defend themselves against them.

But while the unions have been 'moving towards dispute' for some weeks now, it is still not clear when they will actually declare a dispute, let alone start a strike ballot.

Some union officials argue that we need more time to prepare for a dispute. But - as mentioned above - rank-and-file union activists have already done a lot of preparation. What's more, the issues are so clear that workers do not need a lot of persuading.

Even if there are some areas or some grades where people are not convinced of the need to take action, declaring a dispute and a timescale to ballot is probably the most effective way of focussing people's minds and getting them to think about and talk about the issues.

Tubeworker has already cautioned against [1] sitting back and relaxing rather than fighting the ticket office closures. Dragging our feet on this and other issues could be very damaging. The last two big defeats for LUL staff - the most recent pay round, and before that the staffing cuts that accompanied the stations 35-hour week - followed union campaigns that continually put off having industrial action. Delaying action gives out the message that either you think the issues are not that serious, or that you think you are too weak to fight. Beyond a certain point, spending time preparing rather than fighting begins to drain your momentum rather than build it.

It may be that balloting in the run-up to Christmas would be unpopular, but Tubeworker sees no reason for the unions not to declare that they are in dispute now, and will start a ballot first thing in the new year.