RMT members working for LUL recently returned a massive YES vote for industrial action to oppose the company's insulting pay offer, it's job cut proposals, and it's complete disregard of agreements such as the Attendance at Work Policy. With a good turnout, over 83% of members voted for strike action and 94% for action short of a strike. The message sent out by this result could hardly be clearer: We will not stand by while you cut staff, attack our living standards and bully us into working when we're sick.

Most reasonable, responsible employers would have heard this message loud and clear and made an effort to resolve their differences with us through negotiation. But not LUL! Instead, our employer chose to go running to the courts, having found some minor discrepancies in the information provided to them by our union under the anti-union laws. Because of this, we will have to hold the ballot again; you should receive a ballot paper within the next two or three weeks. Don't ignore it.

The company wants to take away your democratic right to defend your terms and conditions by hiding behind the men in wigs when, instead, they should be talking to us in good faith. The company's ruse has cost time and money; but it has also increased our anger and merely delayed the inevitable. In the ballot rerun, let's make sure we send the same message even louder than before:

VOTE YES

Article from May 2009 edition of Finsbury Park Branch Monthly News