I’ll say this for the RMT: they are, at least, a trade union that has long since given up the pretense of caring about the wider public good. While the insufferable junior doctors pretend their money-grabbing militancy is somehow an act of great benevolence towards patients, the rail workers’ union is so transparently a glorified protection racket that it’s almost refreshing. Hence the absurdity of a London tube driver set to earn £80,000 for a role that should have been automated years ago.
If there is one silver lining to this lunacy it is that, in the long-term, the RMT is signing its own death warrant
The RMT has always been this way. From Bob Crow to Mick Lynch, the central qualification for serving as general secretary in recent decades seems to have been being a bald, bolshy Bolshevik. Their leaders have long realised that, given London’s reliance on its underground network, the union can effectively grind the capital to a halt by downing tools for the most tenuous of reasons. And now they’re at it again – this time, under the stewardship of the more hirsute but no less hardline Eddie Dempsey.
The justification for the RMT’s latest round of industrial action is spectacularly absurd. Transport for London has offered tube drivers a four-day working week – on a voluntary basis. Which sounds like the kind of cushy deal the RMT should support. And yet the union says the working day will still be too long under the plans, claiming it will risk driver fatigue and compromise safety.
Call me hard-hearted, but what exactly is so fatigue-inducing about operating a tube train? Last year, one driver on the Northern Line was recorded knitting and watching videos on their phone while pulling out of Hendon Central station. Anyone who has watched the footage, as the driver casually sews with a knitting loom on his lap while occasionally pressing the odd button to operate the train, will have drawn the same conclusion: if these roles are needed at all, they certainly are not fatigue-inducing.
So here’s an idea for reducing driver fatigue altogether: let’s abolish them. The metros in Paris, Dubai, Copenhagen, Singapore, Sydney, Turin, Delhi, Milan, Taipei, and (soon) Madrid are all partly or fully automated. Even in London, the Docklands Light Railway has been successfully driverless since it opened in 1987. Why on earth, almost 40 years later, has it not been replicated across the network? Automation would also make it easier to deliver a fully round-the-clock service, which given the New York Subway has run 24/7, 365 days a year since 1904, is surely not too much to ask for?
And yet still the powers that be resist automation. Only last week, London’s transport commissioner, Andy Lord, claimed there was ‘no business case’ for driverless tubes. Quite how Mr Lord has reached such a conclusion is beyond me. This week’s two 24-hour strikes alone are estimated to cost the capital £210 million. Given the dozens of days lost to strike action in recent years, the total bill will easily be in the billions. And with tube drivers now demanding a higher hourly-rate than surgeons, isn’t the business case for automation really quite compelling?
Most London underground lines are already semi-automated. As a result, fully driverless operation is perfectly feasible for the Victoria, Jubilee, Central, Northern, District, Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and Elizabeth lines. The only reason it hasn’t happened is the never-ending militancy of the RMT and the craven enablement of Sadiq Khan.
If there is one silver lining to this lunacy it is that, in the long-term, the RMT is signing its own death warrant. Their never-ending militancy has already lost the support of ordinary Londoners. Even ASLEF, the other train drivers’ union, says it’s surprised by this week’s walk-out. When even your fellow trade unionists know your demands are bonkers, you should know the jig is up.
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