TUBE WORKERS SHOW pOWER tO BEAt BOSSES

T
he Tory mayor of London Boris Johnson has been forced to drop his hard nosed anti-union line and agree to talks with the RMT and TSSA unions over plans to cut almost 1,000 jobs on the London Underground (LU). The tube unions brought London to a halt with a 48 hour strike last week and as the minutes ticked by towards more strikes this week, Boris and LU management were suddenly prepared to talk about threatened job losses and the closure of ticket oces. This retreat by the Tories poster boy in the capital shows that when unions stand up to bullying bosses we have the power to win. It was hard-hitting strikes and the threat of more strikes that shifted the situation. the employers and the anti-union laws. But Ed Miliband is distancing himself from the unions, not backing them. Labour is signed up to the Tories spending plans. If Labour is elected there will, say Miliband and Ed Balls, be more welfare cuts. And Labour was in oce for 13 years and left Tory antiunion laws in place! The teachers strike on 26 March gives a focus to every group of workers who are ghting to come together. Why should we ght alone? We all need to follow the example of Londons tube workers and hit back hard. New Socialist Worker pamphlet

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Defeated

Popular

The unions also fought a powerful political campaign which reached out to passengers and communities. The defence of good, secure jobs and a safe public transport system was very popular. Continuing with the planned strike could have seen Johnson wholly defeated and all the jobs and services saved. What a contrast all this is to the debacle at the huge Grangemouth plant in Scotland before Christmas. Then the Unite leaders headed up a retreat against the bullying bosses of Ineos. Ineos blackmailed workers into accepting a pay freeze, a no-strike deal, an end to the pension scheme and reduced union rights. Stevie Deans, a Unite convenor, departed the rm. That didnt stop the attacks. Last week Ineos sacked Mark Lyon, the other Unite convenor. Strikes dont guarantee success, but retreat guarantees defeat. It has been argued that we have to wait for a Labour government to tackle

London Underground shows that if we ght hard then even the most pumpedup management, backed by Tory politicians and the right wing press, can be defeated. The fact that leading RMT activist Mark Harding was arrested on a West London tube picket line and spent 13 hours in a cell under anti-union legislation shows just how seriously management, the Tories and the police were taking the dispute. Other workers have also been ghting back. University workers in four unions have launched a series of strikes over fair pay and now teachers leaders in the NUT union have called a national strike for 26 March. They are out to defend pay but also to take on the Tories education hatchet man Michael Gove. He is wrecking education. Our biggest problem at the minute is that most union leaders are not using the power we have and calling action.

Grangemouth: where now for the unions?

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Dont let them divide us

The Tories and the right wing press are trying to divide workers with attacks on migrants. They are stirring up hysteria over East European migrants coming to Britain. But its the Etonians that are the problem, not the Romanians! Join the Stand up to Racism event on Saturday 22 March, 11am Assemble at Parliament Square Backed by the TUC, Unite Against Fascism and Peoples Assembly

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