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Struck Out: Reforming London Underground's Strike Laws

Richard Tracey, GLA Conservative Spokesman for Transport, has launched a new report recommending that strikes should be outlawed for Tube drivers and replaced with a compulsory mediation process with the settlement decided by an independent judge. The report also polled 284 Londoners (research carried out by independent polling company Bryter Research) and found six in ten (59%) think it is too easy to strike while 48% favoured some form of ban on strikes on the Underground.
 
 
   

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Strikes cost estimated £1 billion in four year period
The economic impact of strikes is immense with each dispute costing £48 million per day. Between 2005-2009 20 days of Tube strikes cost London an estimated £1 billion.
 
 
The report recommends:
• Ban strike action on the London Underground
• Replace the right to strike with a right to ‘binding pendulum arbitration’. (Using an independent judge or panel to choose between the competing positions of the relevant trade union and Transport for London with no compromise)
• Require a minimum of 50% + 1 of all eligible trade union members to vote in favour of that course of ‘binding pendulum arbitration’ for it to happen
 
 
Richard Tracey said:

“For too long London’s Tube unions have been holding the travelling public hostage, demanding ever greater pay deals and calling strikes at the drop of a hat. We need to urgently readdress this imbalance. Our research shows six in ten Londoners feel it is too easy for Underground staff to go on strike. Almost half would favour a ban on industrial action. Banning strikes tied to a wider package of compulsory arbitration will protect London’s commuters and the capital’s economy. It will also ensure Tube drivers and staff do get a fair hearing from London Underground management when seeking to secure wage and benefit improvements.”

 

Click here to download the report

Or can be accessed or shared with glaconservatives.co.uk/so

 

Sign our government e-petition

Sign our Government E-Petition and make this report a reality: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/58230

 
 

Press

• Standard: Londoners call for Tube strikes to be outlawed in exclusive poll
• BBC Online: Piccadilly Line Tube workers balloted for strike action
• Telegraph: Bob Crow: Tories are 'like Hitler' for calling for fewer Tube strikes
• ITV: Calls for tube strike ban
• London Loves Business: Tories are like Hitler and Mussolini for backing Tube strike ban, say unions
• LBC: Tories Try To Curb Tube Strikes, Bob Crow Likens Them To Hitler
• MayorWatch: City Hall Tories renew call for Tube strike reform
• Sun: No-strike plan for transport workers
• BBC News Video: London Assembly Tory group calls for Tube strike ban
• ITV London Tonight: Banning Tube Strikes
• Londonist: Ban Tube Strikes, Say Assembly Conservatives

 

Tweets

Tories on Assembly call for changes to strike laws to stop tube strikes. Want binding independent arbitration instead.

— Tom Edwards (@BBCTomEdwards) April 15, 2013

RMT responds to City Hall Tories' call for a tube strike ban by, err, holding a strike ballot on the Piccadilly Line. @itvlondon

— Simon Harris (@simonharrisitv) April 15, 2013

London Assembly Tories have a solution to annoying tube strikes – ban them http://t.co/xfwhQccwdW

— Londonist (@Londonist) April 16, 2013