Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of days you will have heard about the strike action that the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) are currently conducting over the Underground in London.

Tube staff walked off the job around 6pm yesterday and will be putting their feet up for 3 days until 6pm on Thursday. If their “issues” and “complaints” aren’t sorted by this coming Monday then the same thing is going to happen all over again! So obviously they aren’t content in causing havoc for millions of people for a nearly a full week, they threaten to do it twice.

Anyway, to see the impact of this strike just ask anyone who works in London. I have heard lots of stories this morning of people being unable to get to work due to bus’s being overloaded or simply just not being able to cope with the sheer number of people needing them.

Needless to say, ranting about this sort of thing won’t make it stop, and it won’t stop RMT (and all the other unions) abusing the privilege of striking and using it more as a bargaining chip than a last resort. Over the pond in USA they have something called the Railway Labor Act, which basically boils down to their Rail and Airline staff not being allowed to use strike action unless it is the last resort. So it’s something that may help (well, you never know! )

10 Downing Street Petition: Ban London Underground workers from engaging in strike action.

Overall though, the meaning of striking I think has been lost over time. When we look back at when striking first popping up it was due to various serious issues over working conditions and how people were treated. When we look at it now its over stupid and silly reasons that should never ever end up in strike action.

If you are on Facebook, there’s a lovely group regarding these strikes, and you can find it here!