Tube strike, London

The RMT refused to suspend strike action whilst the ACAS talks went on, which is just pathetic.

I'll agree I don't really see the wisdom there, if that's true. It's difficult to know what's true when you hear directly conflicting stuff from either side - for example the claim that since election, Boris Johnson hasn't met directly with RMT leadership once. If that's true, that sounds pretty bad. (I know though it could just be something for Hendy to do instead)

They are not fighting for better conditions. They are insisting their jobs are stable, they take a cut in hours and get paid more money.. in this climate i think thats a bit rich.

Well yeah, but they (as far as I read, anyway) had an agreement that the jobs were safeguarded when Metronet went tits up, and that's being changed. It's not their fault that PPP is a stupid farce. "Current economic climate" seems to be a really convenient buzz phrase to blame any cuts or "rationalisation" on. TFL and LUL aren't ordinary private companies, and imposing a 5 year pay deal means it'll outlast whatever the current climate is.

The investment should be made in improving the workspace not filling the employees pockets. these are clearly low on morale and paying them wont fix that

I agree with that (although extra cash makes people a bit happier temporarily it won't stop future demands either - I'm not that blinkered...)

It's a difficult one, and not helped by how abrasive Crow comes across (or is reported by) the media. I just think it's better to try and understand what's actually going on and both points of view (my bias is pretty obvious) than whine about "cunts on 40k" or whatever.

I'll throw my tuppence in here too. They are all on a final salary pension scheme. No private companies are doing those any more and those that have them are phasing them out. They get a great deal for a fiarly simple job (...) bunch of cheese eating surrender monkeys

So again, it's lower the lucky's conditions to the lowest common denominator rather than try and bring the unlucky's up. What a great society we live in. But I now realise I'm defeated, in a minority and the 80s and 90s really did turn us all into self-centred gits. And that this is a forum about cycling and there's too much random shit on here lately anyway, and I apologise for adding to it.