London has stopped working. In a succession of synchronised strikes by different groups of Tube workers, the Underground has effectively come to a standstill from Monday to Thursday, which actually means Sunday to Friday, given the knockon effects on trains. And when the Tube stops working, London stops working. Simple as that. For office workers like civil servants, this may be no big deal, given that so many of them prefer to run the country from their homes, but for construction workers, hairdressers, shop staff, bank clerks, chefs, teachers and nurses, if they don’t get to work, the work doesn’t get done.
God knows how the West End will manage, let alone the restaurant sector. It’ll be like Paris in August, when the city shuts down for the duration, except people won’t be off to the seaside; they’ll be kicking their heels at home. The cost to the economy in lost earnings and lost business is incalculable. And all because the RMT is exercised about staff hours – which at present amount to the outrageous total of 35 hours a week. May I say that there are any number of people working longer hours than that who won’t be able to function because they can’t get to work because they need the Tube to get to work. For the self-employed, it means a week’s lost earnings. And there are only so many of us who can use a hire bike; indeed, there are only so many bikes out there. The buses – if they run – are never accessible on strike days because they’re full to bursting at the start of the routes. The Elizabeth line may function but if you’re not travelling east-west, tough.
