The RMT will today start a wave of strikes in the capital with Tube Lines workers set to walk out at 7pm tonight, despite a last ditch legal challenge to avert the action.
Transport for London is still claiming that "we do not anticipate any significant impact on Tube services and London Underground intends to operate a full service on all lines".
The "summer of discontent" will be given more impetus with the news that deep and painful cuts will be made to the public sector in London with the news that hundreds of thousands of jobs will go in a drive to save 25% in four years.
David Prentis the general secretary of Unison said in the FT that services ranging from council services, police, prisons, higher and further education, environmental protection and transport would be affected, and "that the battle for Britain’s public services has begun with the government declaring war".
The view is that "pretty much everything outside health spending faced years of extreme pain".
The absurdity of the coalition government’s policy is that it believes by creating more unemployment it will save money, but where will these public sector workers find alternative employment, the private sector? At present SME's are struggling to survive, with the increase in VAT to 20% many will simply close.
Moreover the first budget by this government has struck a nation hard in the face, we needed something drastic but the potential of hundreds of thousands of unemployed public workers is something none of us wants to see. Labour allowed the public sector to become too big and expensive, and in many cases wasteful, we need a new approach, but deep and painful cuts are not the way to do it.
