London Underground

WCH E5: Workmates - organising with agency workers on London Underground

An interview with Andy Littlechild, a rail track charge hand and rail workers' union official, about Workmates: a fighting organisation of permanent and agency contract workers on London Underground in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Freedom November 8 2005

The lead article for November was on wildcat postal strikes, which saw 30,000 walk out over "terms and conditions. After the Communication Worker’s Union’s (CWU) ballot over national strike action was lost the Royal Mail management have tried to press ahead with "modernisation" of the service. Modernisation of course being destruction of the union, wage cuts and slashing up to 30,000 jobs.

Responding to Evening Standard bollocks on the tube strike

Submitted by Ed on Jul 8 2015 22:21

A commuter's rant about the (unsurprisingly) anti-worker coverage of the tube strike by the Evening Standard.

Workers: expect more tube strikes

Submitted by Anonymous on Feb 27 2014 09:55

Some Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union members are starting to prepare for further strike action on the London Underground (LU) after the second of two planned 48-hour strikes was called off earlier in the month following what was described as a last-minute deal.

Tube strikes: first round of five days' strike action begins

Submitted by Anonymous on Feb 11 2014 10:49

Thousands of London Underground workers set to take part in a second 48-hour strike over proposed cuts which include closing every Tube ticket office in London, with another 72-hour strike planned for next week.

Going underground

Review article: Workmates – direct action workplace organising on the London underground.

Cleaners strike protest near London Olympic site

Submitted by Choccy on Jul 27 2012 14:54

Cleaners strike over pay and conditions on London Underground and Docklands Light Railway.

London Underground strike threat wins reinstatement for unfairly sacked driver

Submitted by Steven. on Jun 24 2011 12:39

Six days of strikes on the London Underground by the RMT union have been called off after management agreed to reinstate a sacked train driver.

Workmates: direct action workplace organising on the London Underground

In the late 1990s, plans to outsource track maintenance on the London Underground were being pushed through by the government. Workers at one depot responded by forming a new workplace group, both inside and outside the existing union, the RMT. This pamphlet charts the highs and lows of the Workmates collective, highlighting their successes and failures, their radically democratic organising method and their creative forms of direct action. We hope it can provide an inspiration to other workers frustrated with the limits of the existing workplace organisations.