Priceless Paintings from W7

You know me. I have a soft spot when it comes to workers’ unions. We all owe them tremendous accomplishments regarding work conditions, employment laws, health and safety, and of course also regarding the pay. Without Friedrich Engels and his friends, and the workers unions’ actions over all those years since, I am sure things would be much worse.

However, the RMT going on strike for a 5% pay rise and guarantees of no redundancies, this at times when most people are happy to keep their job at the current salary levels, or happy to keep their job at all, doesn’t really get my sympathy.

According to one web site, the average salary for a tube driver in 2008 is £40,000. This doesn’t compare too badly with the 2008 UK average household income of just under £30,000, does it? Another source claims an average London salary of £42,302, which would be in line with the request for a 5% increase from £40k (assuming these figures are actually correct), but the whole thing still doesn’t make much sense to me.

Employers shouldn’t be allowed to blame just about everything on the poor economy and get away with an obscure thread of the company’s uncertain future, but still, the coin’s got the employee’s side, too.

I am sure the job, that of a driver and that of station and platform staff, has physical and psychological rigors, and life in London is expensive. So is almost everybody else’s. Go back to your sense, and go back to work!

Thoughts london, rmt