By a London Underground PAT SIKORSKI, a well known RMT activist on London Underground, has been victimised and sacked from his job as a guard on the Central Line. Strike action is now planned to demand his reinstatement as well as that of sacked guard Ray Stelzner.
Pat is the Secretary of the RMT's London District Coun cil and has long been a thorn in management's side. By sacking ing a message to union activists that tney will tolcrate no opposition and intend to break the RMT.
Since their success in intro ducing the Company Plan, LUL management has been clamping down on all opposition and trying to stamp out the old culture of railway working and trade unionism with it. instead they want an American-style business culture based on profit instead of service.
Managers are trying to instill an atmosphere of fear. Nowhere has the tension been greater than on the Central Line When they sacked guard Ray Stelzner, with no serious charges against him. Central Line workers had enough. RMT and ASLER activists called two unofficial meetings to discuss phone lines between manage. ment and the union head offices started to buzz.
Circular
RMT head office sent our a bureaucratic circular denouncing calls for unofficial action. They said this was to comply with the law, but in reality they were not supporting the memfight with management.
ASLEF head office were not so coy about doing ment's job. Derrick Fullick, ASLEF General Secretary, rang up the local branch secretary and told him to resign his union rep posts or face sacking by management. the threat worked caving KiMI actvists to ugh alone. A few days later Patrick Sikorski was sacked.
The Train Crew Manager at Leytonstone, Pat's depot, took down notices about the Ray Stelzner meetines from the RMT notice board. Pat naturally protested against the interference. Four days later he wastold he was on a DB' (disciplinary board) for alleged threatening behaviour.
If you can be sacked for arguing with a manager there wouldn't be many workers left on LUL. So at the disciplinary hearing the charge was changed to putting up an unottice 1s tice over Stelzner's case. Punishment - instant dismissal. Now you can be charged with one thing and sacked for another.
This point was not lost on management, who at the appeal decided he had been sacked for the original charge after all!
Afraid
Everyone on the job (with the exception of a few ASLEF activists for sectarian reasons) is timisation for trade union activity. they are afraid of unofficial action and trade union unity.
Once the union head offices RMT President Knapp: essential the RMT pulls out all the stops. had disassociated themselves from local activists over the Selzner case, the way was clear to sack Pat Sikorski. The message from the company is that militant trade unionism must be Pat has worked on the Under ground for 111 years. Secretary of the District Council, he is also a representative for train staff. and tipped to get on the RMT executive in January. This would have been a problem for management and the union buHesitation If LUL can keep him sacked. doubtless the right wing will ar. gue he is ineligible for this position. This is perhaps behind the initial hesitation before the RMT bureaucracy faced up to the need to defend Pat.
But eventually they realised that to defend any trade unionism on LUL., they couldn't stand by. The result is a ballot of train staff on the Central Line. This follows demands by the District Council which plans to spread i successful central Line stoppage to the rest of the system.
Jimmy Knapp has attended a meeting of workers on the East end or the Central Lane to support Pat; John Prescott, Labour's Transport spokesperson has written to ul, on his be half. But the deciding factor is whetner the umon can organise successful strike action.
The new union brought sh August means that organising a legal strike takes five weeks. Management can go to the courts delaying things further. and use the delay to intimidate workers.
No wonder LUL are so afraid of unofficial action, In many situations unofficial action is ine only way forward. We didn't see the health unions distancing themselves too far when London hospitals came out on a completely illegal set of strikes. If one union can support unottcial action so can another.
Activists are campaigning hard on the Central Line and the rest of the Underground to keep the anger going strong. If we can get Patrick Sikorski and Ray Selzner reinstated, it will be a blow to management and a blow to crawl on your belly' trade