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Bob Crow, public support idiot, or inside man - the New Years Eve tube strike

Benny the Ball

17:09 / 31.12.05

Bob Crow, the man, the face of the underground union in the UK. Is he to blame for the new years eve strike? Fair enough, it's not a nice job, working on a new years eve, but the simple act of kindness, of free tube travel in London on this night has traditionally help make most new years eve nights big events. Will tonight suffer because of the strike? Will pubs, clubs and restaurants lose money? And why do the union over here seem intent on alienating the public, losing support for their cause and generally upsetting people? Why strike tonight? Why not on the day everyone is due back to work, causing commerce to be hit, rather than the customer? Why not operate a system that hurts your boss rather than upsets people and have the tube line running but have the ticket office and staff refusing to take money? Is Bob Crow just the Goldberg face to hate? Is he an inside man, there to make the union unpopular?

sleazenation

17:26 / 31.12.05

Well since the strike has been largely ineffective the point is a bit moot, aside from bad publicity...

Spaniel

18:56 / 31.12.05

Um, Benny he isn't the "face of the underground union" he's the General Secretary of the RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transportation union) and he sure as fucking shit ain't an "inside man". As an ex-RMT employee, I can tell you with utter fucking certainty that the man is totally sincere about his politics, and that he's the *elected* leader of the union for good reason: he sticks up for some of the most shat upon workers in the country. Now, that's not to say that I love the man, or love his politics, but I do have some respect for him.

Also what kind of union action would hurt the boss and have no knock on effect for the public? The rail industry is a business, and businesses are hurt when you hit 'em in the wallet.

Lastly, I may be wrong but your post seems to suggest that you're conflating trade unions genrally and the RMT, and that's just plain silly.

Spaniel

19:05 / 31.12.05

Sorry, to clarify my second point. Bad publicity is the last thing London Underground need, and let's face it a strike on New Year's Eve is a PR nightmare, and PR nightmares tend to have a knock on effect for profits.

Anyone can strike on a work day.

Spaniel

19:09 / 31.12.05

Also, it's a power thing. By showing that you're prepared to strike on New Year's Eve you are in effect saying to your employers that you will not compromise: you'll strike when you want and damn the consequences (the anti-union headlines in the Daily Mail).

Mourne Kransky

02:22 / 01.01.06

Seems like they didn't take the public with them and then the eventual tube service suffered very little (I got home much as I always would have done). Maybe outer London was more affected. I'm happy to believe the accusations of safety deficits if the unions give details but at the moment they seem merely to be shroud waving.

Benny the Ball

12:33 / 01.01.06

My point was more to do with the bad publicity that such acts bring about, and whether, because of these, the strikes should happen in the manner that they do. Bob Crow is a very apparent spokesperson, and as such how much of the bad PR does he absorb - do people complain about him as opposed to the union members? It was more a thread to bring about discussion than a soapbox for my views - hence the high number of questions in the first post. The Bob Crow as an inside man was one of many pov's that I have heard. For my part I was unaffected, but was anyone 'hurt' by the tube strikes, did it make anyone not go out when they would have? Did business suffer?

Smoothly

15:50 / 01.01.06

Also what kind of union action would hurt the boss and have no knock on effect for the public? The rail industry is a business, and businesses are hurt when you hit 'em in the wallet.

As Benny suggests, couldn't they come to work as usual but refuse to collect fares?

Our Lady Has Left the Building

16:25 / 01.01.06

That would almost certainly be unlawful and they would be entitled to prosecute their staff, whereas a strike at the moment is lawful, until Blaircorp decide to take it away, on the grounds that it's pandering to terrorism or something.

But what about him buggering off to Egypt for a two week holiday? It's all very well saying he's willing to come back if LU are willing to talk, but doesn't it send out the wrong signals?

Tryphena Absent

17:32 / 01.01.06

Yeah I was a bit pissed off that he went off to Egypt while poorer Londoners potentially suffered from the strikes that he had agreed at home.

Frankly I'm more worried about possible further strike action. Getting from North London to Victoria when the tubes are down isn't an experience I relish when there's signal failure never mind when no one can get on the tube.

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