On Mon, 03 Sep 2007 19:47:33 GMT, eastender
wrote:

Paul Corfield wrote in
:

Going on strike is not the right way to secure the long term result he
says he wants which is to transfer Metronet work back to the public
sector.

On the contrary, we are talking short term - it could well precipitate a
deal for TFL to take it over, which I see is being investigated.

There are other strategic reasons for doing that and the RMT isn't one
of them.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

On Mon, 3 Sep 2007 21:08:47 +0100, "Paul Scott"
wrote:


"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
.. .


The bit he knows but conveniently fails to mention is that the
Administrator's legal duty is not centred on protecting pensions. While
I fully understand why the staff at Metronet are rightly concerned about
pensions Mr Crow is demanding the impossible and he knows it.

Going on strike is not the right way to secure the long term result he
says he wants which is to transfer Metronet work back to the public
sector. Why on earth would anyone wish to give him even more industrial
power by being able to pull even more people out on strike? This sort
of crap is just the sort of thing that Ken's political opponents want in
order to undermine the Mayor's policies on transport that I suspect most
people probably support.


What happens if Mr Crow's helpful stance results in the administrators
handing in the keys tomorrow and giving up their attempts to find a buyer or
indeed any other possible solution?

Strictly I have no idea but I would be amazed if the administrator did
that. They would be in breach of their duty to keep Metronet going
especially as TfL have provided funding. They would also precipitate a
massive crisis in London's transport network and I can't see that
politically Ernst and Young would be so stupid as to open themselves to
such ridicule and potential legal action. Reputationally they'd be
ruined.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

On Sep 3, 6:47 pm, Adrian wrote:
MIG ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying :

And why don't people take out their anger on those responsible for the
PPP scam, rather than those about to lose their jobs and pensions as a
result of it?
Because this strike's got nothing to do with the creation of PPP/PFI.

It's got everything to do with a greedy self-publicist empire builder
causing chaos for the hell of it by demanding the physically impossible.

Again.
I assume that you are referring to Gordon Brown, who forced PPP on
London against just about everyone else's advice that it was
unworkable.

RMT member, are you?


No. I wish I was a member of a union that looked after its members'
jobs and pensions rather than one whose general secretary gave my
membership fees to New Labour in order to secure a knighthood.

You may wish that unions didn't exist, but if they do, they should do
their job. Most of them just toady to and help to fund the party that
is working against their members' interests, but I don't see them
being abused here.

"Barry Salter" wrote in message
...
From the RMT website:

MORE THAN 2,300 RMT members at collapsed Tube privateer Metronet will
begin a 72-hour strike at 18:00 tonight after the company and its
administrator failed to give the unequivocal guarantees on jobs, transfers
and pensions that the union is seeking.

I expect that NO guarantee given by Livingstone or any TFL official will be
honoured by the NuLabScum government.
Regards Mike (who thinks that the 281 bus service is one of the best in
Britain).

On Sep 3, 6:34 pm, MIG wrote:
Good old Two Jags, - making ridiculous promises that he was never going to
be around to deal with...

That's the definition of a politician... and an increasing number of
managers.

And why don't people take out their anger on those responsible for the
PPP scam, rather than those about to lose their jobs and pensions as a
result of it?

Because nobody is going to lose their jobs and pensions as a result of
it.

The TSSA and Unite members at Metronet, being sane people and not
militant loonies, threatened industrial action if they were not given
assurances by TfL over jobs and pensions. TfL provided these
assurances, and so TSSA and Unite retracted the threat. Bob Crow,
because he is a self-aggrandising loony, decided that his merry band
of comedians would go out on strike anyway.

So even if you characterise PPP as a scam (which it isn't - it has
been highly successful and has delivered better value for money than
classic 'government spending' projects across a wide variety of
project types, notwithstanding the Metronet collapse, from which the
biggest losers were the private companies who messed up in any case),
it's easy to see why people blame the RMT for *this particular
strike*.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

On 3 Sep, 21:23, Boltar wrote:

I think its written into the RMT constitution that they have to have
at least 1 strike a year on the tube. If it wasn't this they'd
probably be walking out over the colour of the bog rolls. Is there a
strike rota for different professions?

I don't get it.. previous strikes have been around holidays (often to
allow for a nice four day weekend), or the infamous ones around World
Cup football matches.

What is it that Bob wants to see/do this time? There's nothing major
going on this week is there? My god, this time he's just done it for a
laugh!

Jonathan

On Mon, 03 Sep 2007 15:15:35 -0700, MIG
wrote:

You may wish that unions didn't exist, but if they do, they should do
their job.

Their job is not to inconvenience the people they're supposed to be
serving because they cannot be given assurances which are legally
impossible to give.

What is it that Bob wants to see/do this time? There's nothing major
going on this week is there?

No, but the weather forecast is quite reasonable for this week.

MIG ) gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying :

RMT member, are you?

No. I wish I was a member of a union that looked after its members'
jobs and pensions

Which is exactly what a union should do.

rather than one whose general secretary gave my membership fees to New
Labour in order to secure a knighthood.

Which is exactly what many of the big-name ones do, 'tis true.

You may wish that unions didn't exist

Not at all.

but if they do, they should do their job.

Indeed.

Most of them just toady to and help to fund the party that is working
against their members' interests, but I don't see them being abused here.

That's because they don't cause the chaos to millions that this idiot takes
delight in doing whilst chasing the physically impossible.

FWIW, this strike has very nearly lost SWMBO a temp contract. If the job
was in the centre of town, she would have had to turn it down, losing a
couple of weeks pay. Fortunately, it's in a suburb about half way in to
town from this side and they can arrange parking, so she's driving in. If
she'd turned it down, the healthcare charity it's with would have had great
difficulty in producing several of their publications this month.

D'you see the kind of knock-on effect these strikes have?

What possible benefit can RMT members get from this? The other unions
involved have accepted the assurances as being the best that it's
physically possible to give.

Jonathan Morris ) gurgled happily, sounding much
like they were saying :

I don't get it.. previous strikes have been around holidays (often to
allow for a nice four day weekend), or the infamous ones around World
Cup football matches.

What is it that Bob wants to see/do this time? There's nothing major
going on this week is there? My god, this time he's just done it for a
laugh!

I was wondering the exact same thing...