So here's a question - does anyone (strikers included) know why the RMT
are holding these strikes? It seems that even the strikers themselves
can't get their story straight.

From reading the various reports (i.e. statements from the RMT
leadership, London Underground, and news reports), it seems to me that
events have unfolded as follows...

First the RMT leadership claimed that the strike was over the shorter
working week deal. Of course, this didn't last long when everyone
realised that the RMT agreed this deal ages ago.

Then the RMT leadership did a complete u-turn, claiming that the strike
was never about this deal, mumbling something about "sneaky job-cuts"
instead. They couldn't really explain what job cuts they were referring
to, and London Underground confirmed that there were no such cuts.

So, of course, the RMT leadership then fell back into some vague and
undefined statement about safety, despite London Underground's
confirmations that the new rosters had been validated on safety
grounds.

Because their grounds for striking were so blatantly incoherent, they
refused to even enter discussions. This pretty much told the public
what they needed to know about the RMT leadership's motivations, an
impression that was underlined by the refusal of many RMT members to
support this absurd action on New Year's Eve.

Following the RMT leadership's failure to co-erce their membership into
this unjustified strike, they are now determined to try and save face
by scheduling a further strike. This time, they seem to be protesting
at dubious "safety issues" caused by the failed New Year's Eve strike.
Fairly absurd really, given that any such safety issues (and there is
not much evidence that there actually were any) would have been a
direct result of the strike action in the first place.

To further underline the lack of coherence behind the reasons for these
strikes, I should draw your attention to the following article,
authored by RMT strike supporters:

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art...rticle_id=8040

In this article, they claim the following reasons for strike:

- Some Transport for London staff apparently earn quite a decent wage.

- The Queen didn't award an MBE to every single RMT member working at
King's Cross.

Hardly conclusive justification for a strike, is it? And it doesn't
really line up that well with the spin that the RMT leadership are
desperately trying to create about why these strikes are occurring.

Ultimately, Bob Crow and his cronies are letting the decent hardworking
RMT membership down with this charade of misrepresentation. But he's
not fooling anyone.