You’d have thought that it would be pretty easy to establish. Are there going to be a series of disruptive and extended strikes on the London Underground, or aren’t there?
This week’s events have proved that things are never quite that easy.
Earlier in the week, Boris was at his wit’s end with the Unions. On Monday, the Financial Times was reporting that the Mayor wanted employment law to be changed in order that half of all eligible Union members were required to participate in a strike ballot before it could be passed. His advisors said that “Without a change in the (employment) law there is a limit to what we can do.”
And, RMT General Secretary Bob ‘the’ Crow claimed late into Tuesday afternoon that Tube strikes were still planning to go ahead, despite statements to the contrary. Ultimately, however, common sense seems to have prevailed and the strikes have been called off.
The decision to suspend strike action (after one of the individuals at the centre of the dispute was re-instated in a different role) seems to have forced the Mayor to tone down his language. He said: “It is right for London Underground management and the unions to strive to achieve a more constructive, long-term engagement and I wish to encourage that.
“The capital is rightly fed up with pointless, futile and destructive strikes.”
With the Olympics and the small matter of his re-election up for grabs, perhaps Bozza has realised the being nice to the Unions and avoiding strikes which affect millions of Londoners might be a better course of action than beating them with a large stick….?