By Tessa van Gelderen THE London tube off. The offer of 11.6 per cent without productivity strings has been accepted by the National Union of Railwaymen.
It was Sid Weighell, the NUR general secretary, who had threatened to bring transport workers out. nighly embarrassing to left Livingstone, hel Greater London Council, paymaster of London Transport. Credit Rut the labour GLC cannot claim the credit for the strike threat avcILcu mediately grant the tube workers a increase in line with inflation right into the hands of Sid Weighell.
Weighell was never interested in standard of living. All he wanted was to put Ken Livingstone and his comrades on the spot. The effect of the GLC not openly supporting the workers' claim was to demobilise chem If he had openly united with the workers Weighell, Ken Livingstone have defeated Weighell and assisted the British Rail workers, Faim still has not been accepted by the British Rail Board.
socialist unallenge 23 July 1981 winger Ine the played members' Sid Weighell that it would have armed the tube against workers to sucdessfully fight against could future negotiations on productivity.
whose ormed Socialist Challenge that the London Transport More than determined to go ahead with discusthe union London Thursday, ( militant.
Despite the tivity.' A spokesperson for the NUR in Executive was sions on producuvily levels wnich 'agreed with in principle At a mass meeting of nearly 1000 Transport workers before the tube strike was called off, the mood was London Transport workers. Ilke those in British Rai find themselves up against productivitv deals made at local level.
Weighell's blusterings tube strike, the union leadership does very little to fight Geoff Revel, exagainst these deals cutive member of the NUR, formed the mass meeting that 'we are not going to instruct our sections to implement producProductivity What all union members want to hear is the executive instructing sectional councils not to implement productivity. British Rail and London Transport workers want a lead from their union leadership Labour GLC could have contributed to that process Now it has lost the connidence or al least some of its supporters. In the comIng montas lnal may be a nign price to pay as the GLC attempts to implement its election promises and increasingly comes into conflict with the government.
LCC conference