Sunday, November 28, 2010

The RMT: a bunch of idiots causing another tube strike

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (The RMT) who represent workers of the London Underground have decided to cause more disruption to the Capital by ordering another tube strike (see here). These people are idiots. It all comes down to plans by TFL to cut 800 kiosk job. Basically, in the modern era (today) people tend to buy and renew their tickets at machines...technology rules! And as a result, fewer staff are needed to serve customers. The RMT say that a reduction in kiosk staff will lead to safety issues at stations. This may or may not be true but...

1) At a time when job cuts and 'austerity measures' are a part of everyday life
2) Technology has been shown countless times to replace the need for human participation
3) The tube is a poorly managed and badly functioning service

...I have no sympathy or respect for anyone remotely involved in the strike. If taking the tube was a pleasant experience and the system 'worked' - no delays, no over crouding, no line closures - I would have sympathy. As things stand, and I think I speak for all 9+ million Londoners - the RMT can go fuck themselves.

To leave you with an anecdote, a kiosk staff at my local tube station was working on Sunday and said she was extremely (and unusually) busy. She actually told me that normally on Sundays she has nothing to do! If I were a properly run, commercially sensitive, customer focussed business, I would make her redundant - and all the other people in a similar position. Simple economic sense. More profit means more to invest to improve service... That woman could work as a bus driver or behind a till in McDonalds.

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