The People Bulletin

Industrial relations took a step backwards on 9 June 2009 when the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, headed by Bob Crow and one of the largest of four unions involved in pay negotiations with Transport for London (TfL) went on strike for 48 hours, causing chaos to thousands of commuters. According to a survey conducted by Citrix online, the strike resulted in more than 188,000 working days being lost in London organisations and that Londoners took an average of 1.3 additional hours to get to work.

The problems can be traced as far back as the collapse of Metronet in 2007, which was brought back under public control resulting in the inheritance by TfL of some 7,000 staff from the defunct tube maintenance contractor and duplication of many roles. A failure by the administrators to give a guarantee of no redundancies triggered the previous tube strike the same year. Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, writing in The Times on 11 June 2009 explained ‘I met the unions and gave a written guarantee that after the return of Metronet staff to the public sector there would be no redundancies. In organisations as large as Transport for London (TfL)….we would have had no problems honouring that deal.’

But Boris Johnson, London’s current Mayor has made it clear he wants 1,000 jobs to be cut. Crow sees this as ‘tearing up an agreement aimed at safeguarding jobs’ and the RMT is pressing for a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies, despite assurances from TfL that it aims to make the efficiencies through voluntary means and that no frontline staff, such as train drivers, station staff or engineers will lose their jobs. The overlap lies mainly in the administration, legal and finance departments as well as contractors.

After talks broke down on Monday, 8 June 2009, London Underground and RMT negotiators were then brought together by ACAS the next day and progress was made when pay negotiations (TfL’s offer being a two-year deal with 1% plus inflation in 2009 and 0.5% in 2010, or a four-year deal of 1.5% plus inflation and 0.5% in the subsequent years) were set aside. But talks broke down again.

There has been widespread criticism of both sides of the negotiating table and the incumbent Mayor’s failure to meet with the RMT personally has been seen as holding relations back. Kulveer Ranger, Johnson’s director of transport policy told The Guardian on 11 June: ‘The Mayor has made it crystal clear that he will not meet the leadership of he RMT while they are in the process of strike action and given there has been barely a day since he took office when the RMT has not been in dispute that has been impossible. He is more than willing to share a pint with them – but not until a more appropriate time and when a sensible conversation can take place.’

Basic negotiation, Livingstone told the People Bulletin at a voluntary sector event the same evening, is about making it clear ‘what you can give and what you can’t give’. But if more strikes and lost working days are to be averted, both sides need to get to first base in industrial relations – and that means the appropriate dramatis personae getting around a table together.