Proud to be a scab? So you should

LET US TOAST A group of unsung heroes who wear, as they should, the title scab with pride. These are the brave men and women who have crossed the London underground picket lines to help keep London's commuters travelling back and forth to work.

            

             The rail unions are staid and backward looking, as were the luddites that also opposed technological innovation … that great driving force of civilisation that allows jets to fly the Atlantic; that allows us to communicate with a small hand held device, and scour the world on the internet via our computers and tablets. All of which trade unions would have at some stage, seen as not in their members interest to support; as the impact of digital technology meant less people in the workforce paying their yearly union scripts.

            

             When robots took control of car manufacturing, and computers the printing industry that saw the end of over manning and union hegemony in Fleet Street; it was all done in direct opposition to the unions who were, and still are, fighting battles from the arse-end of history.

           

THE LONDON UNDERGROUND ticket offices are no longer needed. They have outlived their usefulness to civilisation, as did the molten lead that once printed our newspapers; and the Gutenberg printing press long before that in the 15^th century. Time moves on; and if certain trade unions cannot accommodate themselves with its advance; then they are as much a relic of history as the Gutenberg press.

            

             The London underground have promised the RMT union that not ticket office employee will be sacked. Only voluntary redundancy will apply. Yet, the regressive and belligerent obstinacy of the RMT, still seeks to charge at its windmills with their broken lances. The late Bob Crow was the epitome of a drag anchor opposing modernism for no other reason than that the modern world, or his member's part of it, did not serve his union's interests.

            

              There was also his political Labour bias which has also to be considered. His union is continuing to act as a political entity based on class hatred and a loathing for the Tory party and its London Mayor.

            

              The only way the RMT can win this one; is if they are up against; as the unions were in the 1970's, a weak back-boned management and kow-towing Labour politicians. This thankfully is no longer the case. Although, if Ed wins in 2015…who knows?

THERE ARE PARTS of the world where driverless tube trains operate and Boris Johnson has promised them for London. The technology is available; and already the RMT, like the old car manufacturing and print unions in the past, are threatening to oppose them. This will be the RMT's final futile charge at a windmill. Driverless underground trains will appear eventually in London; as they will probably have appeared all over the world where they have an underground transport system. It is only a matter of time and finance. The union obstacle will be breached eventually, if for no other reason than technological evolution demands it; and it matters little what the RMT threatens.

            

            The RMT reminds me of the American West; when their railroads were being laid, crossing from East to West during the 19^th century. The RMT's modern role is that of a mountain which requires a tunnel to be created through it for the railway to continue its journey. The RMT is such a mountain and with as much intelligence; which stands in the way of progress. But then as now, such obstacles were overcome, maybe at extra financial cost: but advancement will be made in the end.

            

            The London underground employers are not 19^th century mill owners. They have only promised voluntary redundancy. Yet the RMT are determined to cause as much disruption to the ordinary commuter as they can: for nothing more, if successful, than a pyrrhic victory can be achieved, that will last no longer than a prawn sandwich from Marks and Spencer's.

THOSE STILL WORKING, while the majority sit on their backsides condemning them, whatever their motives; have a strong feeling that their unions actions have been wrong. They have probably come to this conclusion because the employers have promised no redundancies - so, they ask, why strike? No doubt they come to the conclusion that this is a political strike aimed at the Tory government at Westminster. But more particularly at London's mayor Boris Johnson.

            

             I have no liking for David Cameron; but I am mildly amused by Boris Johnson. He may be seen in many avenues of life as a comedic jester, not serving a king; but the London public who find him amusing. I think him far more capable than this; but he has overdressed what he may see as his 'common touch'.

           

            He is however right about the RMT; the London underground union is living on borrowed time; unless it can accommodate itself with the future; or go the way of the NUM under Arthur Scargill. Unions like the RMT are still living in the 19^th and early 20^th century world of class politics procured to his own advantage by Karl Marx .

            

             But the dark Satanic mills have long gone; as Marx himself would have had to acknowledge as a 'scientific' socialist and believer in Darwinian evolution - if he were to reappear today.

            

            Yet his many modern apostles (like the late Tony Benn and Bob Crow) still like to think that capitalism is a stain on the ideal of a communal socialist society.

            

            So my final words on this issue is this. Scabs of the world unite: you have nothing to lose but your ignorance of technological progress.