Monday, 6 September 2010

Bob Crow and the RMT - Get back to work!

Hi! I'm Bob Crow, I earn over £124k p.a and I'm here to fuck your day up!
This is Bob Crow. Leader of the RMT Union. The odious little shite that is causing so much grief for Londoners right now.

London is in the middle of yet another tube strike called for by Crow and his Crow-nies. This time he is asking for assurances that some 800 jobs won't be cut. The response was that 800 jobs wouldn't be cut compulsorily. Bob Crow, who seems not to understand the art of peaceful negotiation told them to shove it and here we are.



Previous Crow-ny strike action:
Back in 2003, Bob Crow wanted assurances over future job security and pensions. This was given to him in writing by Ken Livingstone, but the strike went ahead anyway, once again crippling London. But from Mr Crow's perspective, the strike was necessary to get the extra reassurance his members needed.

In 2004 at another RMT walkout, Mr Crow was resolutely unapologetic.
"I'm not one of those union officials who continually say they regret the inconvenience caused by industrial action," he said. "You cannot have a dispute without inconvenience to the travelling public."

Does he not realise that strike action does not work without the support of the public? Kind of stupid to be telling them you don’t care you’re inconveniencing their lives?!

Last year, when the country was deep in the middle of a recession. Bob Crow again took the decision to strike over job security and pay rises. Even though he was offered a deal that included pay rises in the middle of a recession, they went ahead with the strike anyway. The irony being that the strike would inevitably cost thousands of  other people their jobs, as small and medium companies lost productivity for the duration of the strike.

This time, Crow is once again threatening a series of strikes over job security. It is unbelievable that this man has the power to squeeze London by the balls. It is so unbelievably selfish that the minority can threaten the majority like this.
Transport is crucial to everyone. If it stops, not only is it massively inconvenient, its dangerous, millions of people trying to cram into buses, or cars or taxis. London’s roads become gridlocked, and emergency services struggle to get to emergencies. Just imagine him pulling this during the olympics. It'll be a nightmare and we'll be a laughing stock.

Even if you don’t commute using the tubes, if you live in London, you’ll be affected by commuters using different routes.

Unused tube trains
So, to the RMT and Bob Crow, everybody who loses their job today because their company can no longer afford them, its your fault. Every man woman and child that is involved in a road accident due to overcrowding of the roads, whether they live or die, it’s on you. Every child that has to walk to school instead of getting the tube, is being put at risk, because of you. The list goes on.

Sack the drivers, automate the tube network and use the save money to appease the remaining communists.

Or, get back to work you selfish arseholes.

Comments (10)

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There should be a national campaign to oust these old out of date Union leaders whose 'us and them' approach to negotiations is killing off any modernisation in this country. I would find out where he lives and stop ALL public services to his house, I'd encourage all the local shopkeepers to stop serving his family, I would stop ALL services at the RMT headquarters, and I would actively recruit fair minded union members to vote these dinosaurs off the union altogether.

I'll be mentioning this to all the people I meet tomorrow queueing up for alternative transport in London.
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
Thanks for reading. I totally agree. It's Crow's "I don't care about the public" attitude that winds me up more than the fact that he has been causing so much grief for Londoners since 2002. Do you remember the story in the news last year where he was at a football match behind the opposition dugout and was yelling so much foul abuse at them, they had to get police, stewards and the home team to shut him up. He is such a shining example to us all....
So when there is a tube accident, or someone gets mugged or worse at un-manned tube stations that will all be OK with you will it??
Industrial action is supposed to cause inconvenience, or it wouldn't really be worth doing.
5 replies · active 760 weeks ago
I don't want to get rid of all staff at all tube stations, that would be ridiculous and unpractical. Modernisation of the network by putting in automated safety systems, supplemented by well trained employees is what they are afraid of as it is going to lead to job cuts, as does modernisation in any industry. European countries that invest heavily in their railways have the best safety records and if the RMT keeps fighting modernisation, the railways will deterioate and safety will get worse.

As for being mugged or worse at a tube station. You hardly ever see staff down on the platform or anywhere other than the ticket hall, and even if they were in those places, 99% of the staff (as would 99% of the population) would take the view that its not thier fight and not get involved. So wether theres less staff or not wouldn't make a difference.

Of course industrial action is suppsosed to cause inconvenience, but what I object to is the arrogant, aggressive attitude of Bob Crow and the RMT. Each and everytime he does this it damages his cause, makes the powers that be step away from the table and turns the public against him. Strike action is just industrial terrorism and is a disgraceful way of getting what you want.
Well I think we disagree a bit on some points :-)

I do agree that Bob Crow has handled it badly, but I also agree with the right to strike and with the reasons for this strike.
Re-nationalise it all, run it properly not let private companies take profit from it, then the money would be there to invest properly!!

Like the other stuff here though,
Yeah, not many people are going to have the same views on this as it is such a big topic. So I agree with you there!

Thanks. Glad people are liking the blog.
I too agree with the right to strike - but only when there is a very good reason. As far as I know - there is no intention to remove ticket offices from stations - only reduce the number of people staffing them - what sense is there having two people sitting in an office selling 10 tickets a day? One of them would be better placed walking around the station making sure that people are safe and platforms are clear. I've worked with many unions over the years and the jump from a simple industrial relations issue to a health and safety catastrophe can happen in a nano-second, especially when you have a left of left wing union rep who operates on a confrontational management v worker stance!
I agree. Of course people have the right to strike, but as you say, it is the aggressive stance and I don't care about the public attitude that Bob Crow has, which means he will never have widespread support from the public.
without people like bob crow NO ONE would have weekends off, NO ONE would get tea and lunch breaks, workers wouldnt get uniforms and overalls. Without the unions the worker (and that includes office workers) would have no rights and no job security.
If industrial action didn't cause inconvenience the fat cat bosses wouldnt listen.
If you don't support them you'll lose your rights and your services ( the Beaching cuts )
1 reply · active 760 weeks ago
This government is trying to fix the economy, which means cutting back on spending. Why is it that Bob Crow thinks the tube networks aren't subject to the same cuts the rest of the country is? Does Bob Crow think that by destroying the UK economy they will somehow make it better? Everytime he strikes, its the same story, "we have no choice" and he passes the buck to the mayor and tries to lay all the blame at his door. Time and time again, he turns up at the mayor's door with a list of demands and if they aren't met, (or in previous cases, are met) he strikes. I'm not desputing the right to strike but if Bob Crow keeps on like this, it will backfire and make it easier for the government to bring in Union bashing laws of the Thatcher era.

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