YP Letters: Blame poor railway management for disruption, not the right to strike

I HAVE often chortled at Bernard Ingham’s rantings in his weekly column, but this week’s has provoked a response from me to his call to ban strikes (The Yorkshire Post, August 20).

He uses many column inches berating the RMT, yet three lines metaphorically wagging his finger at the public sector management. Years of under funding in the public sector and the private railways has led to this situation.

Rail operator Southern’s rolling stock is some of the worst in the country, unless he has travelled between Hull and Manchester, and the reason for that particular strike is for safety concerns.

The wages paid to London Unnderground staff has been fought for over years of staff cuts and again under-investment.

I am a retired bus driver and ex-union official. We negotiated for benefits for our members over many years to make the job better, often against hostile management.

As an ex-union official, he should be ashamed of his stance but probably the ghost of his former boss (Margaret Thatcher) echoes around his study.

From: Eddie Bone, Workers of England Union.

FOR Bernard Ingham to state that we should ban strikes isn’t just a ridiculous, silly idea, but it is also an attack on workers’ rights and it should be fought all the way.

The right of a worker to withhold his or her labour is essential to improving our working conditions and pay. To strike shouldn’t be the first resort, but it should be the last resort, after every avenue of bringing an employer to its senses has been exhausted.

This is one of the reasons why the Workers of England Union doesn’t believe that a trade union should be facilitated by or centrally linked to a political party. When a trade union goes on strike, the public should clearly know that it is to do with improving working conditions, improving pay because its urgently needed or to do with protecting safety. They shouldn’t think its political.

From: Hilary Andrews, Leeds.

THE rant from the railway unions about the increase in train fares is a really rich joke.

They are responsible with their ever-increasing demands for higher wages and their insane reasons for calling strikes that affect millions of commuters. Get real unions. Stop thinking that re-nationalisation is the answer to the rail fare increases.