Strikes: Who Wins, Who Loses?

As a consumer, there are many strikes you'll probably never notice. They won't affect your daily life, what you eat, how you get to work or to school, or your access to communication and information. But a strike that stops a major form of transportation generally has the effect that its union wants: people notice. That was the case in Britain recently when union railworkers threatened to strike over a major holiday weekend during which thousands of people were scheduled to travel by train.

The major issue leading to the strike vote was Network Rail announcement that it would be eliminating 1,500 jobs in an effort to cut costs. Network Rail, which is state owned, maintains the track and signaling system over which private train operating companies run their train services. It also hires out track engineering and replacement contracts to private contractors. The workers involved in the dispute belong to the Rail Maritime Transport Workers Union (RMT). When RMT maintenance workers voted a 77 percent majority in favor of the strikes, Network Rail threatened to fire all 13,000 of them and reemploy a smaller number of them based on new terms and conditions. Because of budget cuts, a private subcontractor had already filed for bankruptcy-representing another 1,100 lost jobs.

Had the strike gone ahead as planned it would have been Britain first in more than 16 years.

It would have disrupted travel throughout the nation, including passenger travel and the shipping of goods. But the strike was blocked by a British judge who cited irregularities in the union strike ballot-a technicality. Union representatives were outraged by the decision. This judgment is an attack on the whole trade union movement and twists the anti-union laws even further in favor of the bosses, argued Bob Crow, general secretary for RMT. Network Rail head of operations, Robin Gisby, played to the general public. This is good news for the millions of passengers who rely on us every day, and for our freight users and for the country as a whole, he said. We have a responsibility to our people to continue talking to the unions to find a settlement.

Questions for Critical Thinking

1. If the RMT strike had gone ahead, what do you think might have been the result? How would the general public view RMT? How would Network Rail be viewed?

2. Do you think the union was a help or a hindrance to negotiations between workers and Network Rail? Why?