Under the new deal, Bob Kiley will be given full access to the PPP proposals with the scope to introduce a unified management structure with overall control of the operation. Despite the injunction, Tube workers in the RMT did not report for work and joined the picket lines. The Tube workers explain that safety fears are behind the strike. Standards have fallen since the Tube was split into four in readiness for the government's proposed PPP and there is the fear that private companies will put profit before safety. The workers want a new body to be set up with equal say between union representatives and LU managers, to oversee safety.
Job security is also an issue.
The Tube workers are also demanding a no-compulsory redundancy clause, saying that staff numbers should not drop below current levels and private contractors should not be used. Public safety and job security are not contradictory motives, as some critics have tried to make out. Both struggles are entirely just in themselves, and are also linked by the nature of the PPP initiative, in which private finance will try to get the maximum return on their capital. Furthermore, a victory for the Tube workers must be regarded as a victory for the whole working class, and in their concern for safety a victory for the travelling public also. On Wednesday, there are plans to bring Transport Commissioner Bob Kiley and strike union leaders together in continuing attempts to avert two more strikes scheduled for February 12 and 19.