The last-minute ending of the Tube strike was unequivocally good news for London. But as this paper observed yesterday, the way in which it ended is altogether more problematic. Twenty minutes before the strike was due to start, Mayor Sadiq Khan miraculously found £30 million down the back of the City Hall sofa — no one has a better explanation — and bought off the RMT union.
Trouble is, the other Tube union, Aslef, had accepted the offer of a five per cent pay rise in good faith on the basis that this was all that TfL had to offer. This assurance turns out to have been false. Apparently there was a mayoral money tree waiting to be shaken. So, by bribing the RMT with an unexpected £30 million, the Mayor has bought off the strike on the basis that if you are uncompromising enough as a union then you will be rewarded. Aslef, which had acted with restraint in its demands, now looks less effective than the combative RMT. This is not, to put it mildly, in the interests of London’s Tube users.
