Tube strike

About the only power a worker has in this country is to withdraw his/her labour. In other, more advanced, countries workers are treated with more respect and genuine efforts are made to reach agreements that are acceptable to both sides.

I think the removal of all ticket offices is a very retrograde step and I agree with Bob Crowe. Boris Johnson had previously said he would not back any proposition to close ticket offices.

I wonder why so few people voted, is 30% the total number of those who voted. Presumably, the votes must have been for, not against the strike. I don't understand not using votes, whether it's in political election or in relation to industrial action.

I agree, this a failure of industrial relations. It will cost on so many levels. I agree, the two bigs B's need their heads knocking together.
I don't support denying workers the right to take industrial action, but I wish both sides would flex their muscles less, and reach some kind of solution.

Last year we were on holiday in Spain and wanted to get a train to Barcelona. There was a manned ticket office at the station but they did not sell regular tickets just directed us to a machine which we negotiated as best we could....
...and at least the London Underground map is easier to understand than others...I got quite lost in New York!!

I don't visit London very often but the last time I was there I asked for a specific destination at a ticket office, not only was I sold the wrong ticket but was sent in entirely the wrong direction! I would have got on the wrong train had I not spoken to a member of staff on the platform, he looked at my ticket and told me it was the wrong one - when I went back to the ticket office the person who sold me the ticket said I had been standing in the wrong queue . She had obviously not listened to what I was asking and merely sold me a ticket for where she assumed I wanted to go! Now I use the bus or taxis.

Tourists depend on having ticket offices open. I get confused on the Paris Metro and the Tube is far worse.

...and yes we need either ticket offices or visible Customer Service Staff on every station. London is a very confusing place even to those who live and work here. They are not only closing ticket offices but some stations will be totally unmanned..scary!

BTW my OH is a manager on the Underground and has gone on strike today for the first time for 40 years for reasons too many to list ...

felice if you want to buy an Oyster Card to get around London I suggest going to the nearest Newsagent, not a station. Shopkeepers are paid a percentage for selling them and are very helpful. There are also agents all over the world.
I would also recommend the tfl website and helpline 03432221234. This is a normal rate number (like 01 and 02 numbers) and you speak to a person really quickly...I know this from experience!!

My father was a union activist, he believed the unions were needed to represent the working man - and I was raised with that philosophy, but the unions that he so fervently supported are unrecognisable to the unions today.

The more vociferous union leaders are more interested in political issues above the welfare of their members. Why do they feel it is part of their remit to try to "bring down" a democratically elected government.

As for Boris Johnson refusing to meet with Bob Crowe - wasn't BC several thousand miles away until a day or two ago?

It's a particularly terrible day for a tube strike - the weather is awful - it's cold, very wet and windy.

I'm thinking of the lowly-paid and overworked carers whom I work with, who are trying to get around London to see patients. Some of them had to leave home at the crack of dawn, leaving children to get themselves to school, in order to get to appointments on time. And what about all the other poor people such as office cleaners, catering staff etc who leave work late and have to struggle to get home.

Not saying ban unions - they still have a place - but this 'all out' approach seems outdated. I don't have the answers, just opinions. And aren't we all working 'men' these days?

Well mollie if we made unions illegal how do you think the working man would fare?

If the man drinks champagne has not a thing to do with this strike, should a working man not drink champagne unless he is working in the city . Does a captain in the army earn the same as a corporal? What matters is the reasons for this strike, people are complaining they can't get to work and the strikers are on strike in an attempt to keep their jobs . Suppose the question is - do we need ticket offices

Time and place Whitewave. We aren't talking matchgirls or ammunition workers now. Not sure this sort of union action has a place now. But I'm open to persuasion.

This strike is about poor industrial relations, change management and political animosity.

Ultimately if we replace people with machines we all pay.

Yes, this strike is a massive disruption and Bob Crowe, like Boris Johnson, lacks grace and charm, but for Johnson to refuse to meet with Union leaders then lie about it and then propose measures which he would oppose vociferously if they were applied to his own mandate, is dishonest and egregious in the extreme.

I am always quite interested in people who de-cry unions, because I am not sure where they think ordinary working people would be without their struggle during the past couple of centuries.

I don't know the answer but I do think in some cases these strikes are more political than about the actual issue and are there to promote the voice of the fool calling the strike. There has to be a better way ... I do sympathise about the loss of staff and jobs but this isn't the way...

I do not understand why Bob Crowe, on an annual salary of £145k and living in a council house, also gets a bonus...what for? For the number of strikes he calls in a year? For the number of working days lost by the commuting public? I thought unions were of the people and for the people - how many of his union members earn that sort of salary? And when Mr Crowe calls a strike I presume he gets his nice salary paid unlike his members who will now be loosing two days wages...

As an Xpat who visits the Uk on occasion, if I wanted to visit London, I could not buy a bus ticket on the bus, I would need to get an Oyster card, from a Metro station where there would be no one to help me, my SO is going to be in London in April, the last time he was there the ticket machines would not accept his non UK bank card, and he was helped a lot by a very nice lady in the office in the tube station. when London and the UK rely so much on tourist income surely that should something the people in charge should be thinking about.

Why have we allowed union leaders such as this champagne militant to become so powerful ?

He is not exactly sticking up for the raw deal of his members is he? I read that only a third of members voted too sunseeker.

What is the answer mollie?

The tube strike isn't just affecting those in London. My OH works from home most of the time and his main office is in Watford but the strike has forced more and more people to work from home and overloaded the system and OH has been forced off! So the London tube strike has lost him a day's work here in MK!

Strikes aren't the answer in my opinion. And as for Bob Crowe... don't get me started!!!

I have no doubt that BJ is a clever and scheming politician.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews (Muslims)(Gay) (Roma)(Poor), and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.(Muslim)(Gay) (Roma)(Poor)
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemoeller

The strikers are playing right into the hands of Boris Johnson - he wants a showdown, and wants to introduce such a legal ban.

I have no objection to people striking if they feel it necessary, however, I do think Bob Crowe's actions are politically motivated rather than in response to his members wishes. I did read somewhere that less than one third of the members voted for the strike.

Yes, definitely. I am so glad that I am no longer making my way into London on the Metropolitan line to get to work.

I do not agree with the staff being removed from stations as people like me still need help at times. I would find it frightening getting off a tube and having to make my way either to the tube station car park or if none, to my car in a local street. Negotiating the stairs without staff around I think could be unsettling.

Bob Crow can call for a strike but the union members have the choice