So ... where are we with this fight against job cuts then?!
150 managers and admin already gone ... another 650 stations jobs due to go on 6 February ... 600 to go in the 'support services review' ... Project Horizon to usher in more, no doubt ... and individuals' jobs going at a rate of knots to help management get on with it.
What we have going for us: RMT and TSSA fighting shoulder-to-shoulder for the first time; all grades striking solidly together on four separate occasions now; action short of strikes keeping up the pressure; widespread public opposition to the staffing cuts; the GLA voting against them, putting BoJo under pressure; other sections of society taking action against cuts eg. students; LU management pressured into talks; and a decision from RMT's Executive to give us strike pay if and when we go out again.
Of course there are negatives too, but with these things on our side, there should be no need to shrug and give up now. But with no new strike dates named, members are beginning to feel like the unions have done just that. Of course, everyone wants the talks to succeed, but if they do not feel the threat of further action, there will be no need for management to give us anything significant. The talks could enable either significant gains or a woeful defeat: the difference will be made by the pressure of industrial action and by ensuring openness and regular reporting on what is happening in the talks.
Whoever takes over on RMT's Executive next week needs to grab this dispute by the scruff of the neck and ensure that we press on for whatever scale of victory is within our reach. Urgently, that means getting out round the workplaces explaining the state of play to rank-and-file members and listening to their opinions and ideas; a renewed drive for our press and political campaigns; and naming new dates for strike action, of at least 48 hours.
