Strike offers no choice

The RMT union is about to ballot members at two other train operators for yet more strike action, but how many members really want to strike?

In my experience, ballot papers had just two boxes to put a cross in - one for strike action and the other for action short of striking. There was no box marked ‘No to industrial action’. It would seem that the only choice open to someone opposed to striking is to not return their ballot paper, thereby distorting the outcome. In a recent ASLEF ballot quoted in

RAIL, 62% of those who voted were in favour of striking and 38% against. 19% didn’t vote at all, which would seem to prove my point.

The RMT seems hell-bent on causing as much disruption to the railway system as it possibly can, but are the majority of rail workers in favour of this? I feel sure that a large number of them just want to get on with their jobs, rather than be used as pawns in some political crusade.

It has also been suggested that a Railway Ombudsman be appointed ( RAIL 832). If so, perhaps they can include these union disputes in their remit.

Being compensated for a train arriving over an hour late pales into insignificance compared with the misery and mayhem caused by trains not running at all because of strike action. The consequences of the current strikes are out of all proportion to the matter in dispute, and if and when it is settled there will be no winners. Mike Thompson, Plymouth