MP: Raise Strike Threshold to Stop More Tube Chaos

A Member of Parliament has called for the threshold for strike action to be raised after a strike by tube workers caused two days of chaos in London.

The RMT and TSSA unions held 48 hours of industrial action on London Underground last month, despite only 30 percent of RMT members actually supporting strike action.

The action led to widespread disruption on the Underground, with large sections closed and the remainder running a limited service. Commuters crammed onto the few trains still running, or crowded onto buses, causing disruption across the whole London transport network.

Yesterday, at Prime Ministers Questions, Bob Blackman, Conservative MP for Harrow East in north west London, asked the Prime Minister whether he would agree to conduct a review to raise the threshold before a strike can be called.

Speaking to Breitbart London, Mr Blackman called for the threshold to be raised to 50 percent of all union members voting in favour of industrial action before a strike is called.

He said: “The RMT militants were striking about closure of ticket offices and threat to jobs, yet there are no compulsory redundancies and all stations will be staffed. The difference is that people staffing stations will be out and about the station to offer help and assistance to customers.

“The Union only secured 30 percent support in the strike ballot, and hundreds of union members turned up for work in defiance of the union barons.

“I would like to see the threshold raised to require a strike ballot in such essential services to need 50 percent of the membership before being valid. This would then mean that a union had the strong support of its membership before a strike could be called.

“At all times, the unions in this action could have held talks with London Underground but chose the route of confrontation rather than reconciliation. Strike action should only be used as a last resort after negotiations have failed, rather than the initial tactic in a confrontation.”