Will it be a winter of discontent 2009?

by James Agate

At ten minutes to one today (4th November), Unite members at London Underground will be calling time on the 10-to-1 pay gap between executives and front-line staff at the capital’s tube operator.

The employees, all members of Unite, will be protesting outside London Underground’s HQ to draw attention to the ten to one difference in pay between senior TfL executives and the workers providing the services which keep the capital’s passengers on the move.

John Morgan-Evans, Unite’s regional officer for London Underground, said today’s protest was a measure of Unite members’ growing frustration. According to Mr Morgan-Evans “This company must see that it is just not acceptable to let such a huge gap in earnings open up between workers and managers.”

TfL workers taking industrial action today join a long list of recent moves by unions and workers to take action over redundancies, pay cuts, pay freezes, working conditions and business decisions – WeLoveBusiness.co.uk asks will 2009 be another winter of discontent?

The winter of discontent was a phrase originally used to describe the British winter of 1978–1979, during which there were widespread strikes by trade unions demanding larger pay raises for their members. It is looking increasingly likely that we as a nation will be facing similar circumstances as the TfL workers join a long list of recent industrial action stories including multiple postal strikes, British Airways strikes, and the Fujitsu walkouts across their UK plants to name but a few.