What I Think About This `Strike Or Not To Strike' by Louisa Pawsey

Personal Opinion Of A City Resident:

As I sit at home curled up under my duvet, trying to work out how to get to work when the only underground line to Wood Green is closed from Tuesday evening, my mind starts to think about the whole purpose of going on strike.

For those of you who don’t live in London or who don’t travel into the city on regular basis, the idea of trains not running must seem like such an alien thing. I mean, how does it matter if the underground is running a half service? Well believe me, the underground network is the heart of the city and without it, we grind to a halt.

Let me first tell you, as a conservative I don’t agree with strikes. I will never think its a good idea to allow workers to hold their employers to ransom and, and if I had my way I would sack every person that goes on strike on Tuesday and, hang the instigators on the nearest lamppost.

But I don’t, so I just have to put my faith in Boris Johnson that he will go all Maggie Thatcher on the RMT and then I could watch them go the way Arthur Scargill and Miners did in the late 1980s. I don’t see that happening in the near future though and if I am honest, that makes me very sad.

I think that the best way to deal with strikers is with head-on offensive measures and I am so glad that Boris Johnson hasn’t given in to their demands.

Now lets get this straight, I don’t really understand the purpose of this strike, or what their 'grievance' is this time. But from what I gather, it has do with ticket offices closing down, and people loosing their jobs. But at the same time, I have been made to understand that nobody is being fired or being forced out of a job, or even being made redundant. So what’s the issue about?

Ticket offices are closing because they aren’t being used, those staff effected are being asked to take voluntary redundancy, and if they say no, then they are going to be found other jobs within the underground network. Where is the problem with that?

And from conversations with members of the underground staff network, there seems to be quite a lot that appear happy to take the voluntary redundancy packages being offered. I mean lets be fair, most of them will be getting a very decent pay off.

But what I don’t really understand is what all this have to do with the train drivers. They will still have to drive the trains even if the ticket offices are being closed, so surely their jobs must be safe?

Nor do I want to hear the stuff about unions sticking together, on the guise of showing solidarity and support for their fellow workers!!! That seems to be just propaganda crap, especially as 70% of the union members either voted against strike action or abstained from the vote.

Which means that only 30% of the union actually supports the strike. To me that just says it all really. It's a totally irrelevant strike and is going to get the strikers no where, except for loosing two days pay.

To feel the full force of Louisa Pawsey's furry over the strike action, go here >>> [STRIKE-OR-NOT-TO-STRIKE].

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