Is Bob Crow a complete twat?

I was out drinking beer last night. Much too much of the stuff. One of my drinking buddies offered the opinion that "Bob Crow is a complete twat". Now in the alchoholic daze, I'd forgotten about it this morning. My friend feels that the Leader of the RMT is an "ignorant git who is bent on causing trouble".

I guess my mate isn't alone in his views. He feels that the biggest problem with the railways is Mr Crow. Then I read this in my favourite paper, the Guardian today.

The "improved" franchise regime being sought by the Association of Train Operating Companies should fill rail users with dread (Letters, 7 July). Atoc represents the combined interests of shareholders who have been the beneficiaries of massive corporate welfare in the form of more than £11bn in public subsidy in the last 10 years. Rail franchising remains essentially a crude device for converting public money into private profit – approaching £400m across the Tocs for the most recent financial year – to the detriment of rail users and workers.
The investment boasted of by Atoc comes from fare-payers and taxpayers – the private sector's most notable contribution is to siphon money out of the industry. Now we are a Con-Dem nation, Atoc is baying to be given more of the public funds, in the form of longer franchises and what they call "vertical integration" – which would amount to rail infrastructure being fragmented and divvied up among the private operators to be sweated for even more profit. Atoc's demands need careful interpretation: for "drive down costs" read "remove guards and station staff, and downgrade safety to maximise profits"; and for "a commercially rigorous approach" read "ringfence our profits while hammering passengers and rail staff". This is the reverse of what should happen. Franchising isn't the solution – it's part of the problem.

Couldn't have put it better myself. For those of us lucky enough to use the rotten service provided by First Capital Connect, we already know that these awful TOC's (train operating companies) are only interested in profits. They know that passengers are only there to be bled dry and treated like cattle.

They know that owning a rail franchise is a license to print money and the government doesn't care how badly you do it. If they did, they would have stripped First of the Thameslink franchise last year when they weren't employing enough drivers to run the service, resulting in a near 50% reduction in services and appalling punctuality stats.

I am deeply suspicious of any organisation which represents the interests of TOC's. The interests of TOC's are most certainly not the interests of passengers.

Anyway, who do you think wrote the letter to the Guardian? None other than Bob Crow. I'm not a member of his fan club, but anyone who has suffered from the trials and tribulations of FCC's Thameslink knows that whilst Unions cause some problems, incompetent management cause far worse ones. Bob Crow earns £103,000 per annum to represent his members. Moir Lockhead, boss of First Group gets paid £802,000 per annum to run a train service. Which one is the more overpaid? Which one has helped Great Britain's railways prosper and the passengers get to their destination on time? Sadly, despite the fact that these two earn just short of a million quid a year between them, you won't get any answers from either of them as to what they will be doing to ensure that the people who pay both of their wages (the passenger) will get a good deal.

Sadly for Great Britain PLC, whilst we have the likes of Moir Lockhead running companies like First Capital Connect, we'll have the likes of Bob Crow running the Unions. And that my friend, is why we are all F*****D. Have a nice weekend.

Ho Ho Ho It's Bob Crow

"In the blue corner, we have the Prime Minister of Great Britain and in the Red Corner we have the Leader of the RMT - Father Christmas"

Now you may never have viewed Bob Crow, Leader of the RMT as Father Christmas, but I have it on good authority that David Cameron and the rest of his Tory mates do. You see, Mr Crow is the one trades union leader they can't beat. He's the only one left who has the country by the short and curlies.

You may think that this is a contradiction, but not at all. You see most of the leaders of trades unions are completely useless. They have no stomach for a fight and no stomach for a bit of public hostility. They earn huge wage packets and they really don't want to lose these. Bob Crow  doesn't care if we all hate him. It's not his job to be popular, it's his job to deliver nice big pay awards to his members and great terms and conditions.

Now with all of the rest of the trades unions leaders being a bunch of pussies, how can David Cameron possibly justify the big stick of even more Union bashing? It's quite simple, pick a fight with Bob Crow, wait until middle England squeals, then give in. You then say "never again" and pass a whole load of union bashing laws, which does nothing about Mr Crow and his band of merry men, but allows you further castrate the public service unions at a time of public sector cuts. You see ultimately Cameron knows that Crow and his mob are worth having around. They provide the excuse to bash the poorly paid members of Unions such as Unison, who they really want to sack. Even though the leadership of this union are at time nigh on useless, Cameron is still scared of their membership. This is because the members do many of the things which makes us a decent caring society. Cameron can only bash them if he finds a subterfuge. He needs a bogeyman, which is why Bob Crow is Santa Claus.

So what am I saying? Am I saying "get rid of Bob Crow?". Nope that is a decision for the members of the RMT and they like him, he brings home the bacon. What I'm saying is when the anti union rhetoric is ramped up, remember who the real targets are and don't be fooled. Oh and remember this, the country isn't broke because of unions, Bob Crow or public sector workers, it's broke because of greedy bankers who were Tories to a man.

Tube strike : The truth about Bob Crow and the RMT

Have you ever been through a divorce? If you have, would you like your lawyer to have turned around to your ex-partners lawyer and said "Well, you are not treating me very fairly, but take what you want". Have you ever been overcharged by a bank? Did you say "Well, it's not fair, but keep the cash". Have you ever been sacked unfairly? Did you say "Well, that's not right,but never mind, it'll make you happy if I say nothing". Have you ever been asked to do something dangerous at work? Did you say "OK, if it saves the boss money, that's fine".

I've heard all sorts of comments about Bob Crow, Leader of the RMT and the man Leading the Tube strike. From some of the comments, it seems he's the most despised man in London. As people struggle to get home from work, this is understandable, but is it fair? Firstly, lets ask ourselves, what is his job? It is to get the best possible deal for the members of his union. I was talking to someone today, who didn't realise that Union members lose pay every time they strike. They thought they got a full days money. When I asked them whether they thought they'd give up cash just to become unpopular, they had to respond that they'd not really though about it like that. To lose cash, most people only do it when they have a serious grievance. They wouldn't do it, just so Bob Crow could go on telly and upset everyone. According to Bob Crow, the sticking point is that staff have contracts which state that there will be "No compulsory redundancies". This is under threat. Management and the press are saying "no one else in the country has such a deal, so why should they?" Now I may agree if Bob Crow was trying to introduce the matter as a new policy. He's not, he's just insisting that the bosses at the London Underground stick to deals they've made before. These assurances were given in the past as part of a bargaining process, in exchange for other concessions. Bob Crow is only asking that agreements be honoured.

The country is in recession. Jobs are disappearing every day. This is not happening because Bob Crow is an awkward sod. It is happening because banks made lousy decisions. Many of our most respected financial institutions were only saved from complete collapse by government bail outs. People such as Fred Goodwin, nearly destroyed the country. He walked away with a multi million pound payoff, smiling into the sunset. There was outrage, but the bottom line is that he had a contract, so nothing could be done. If Bob Crow's members were offered the deal Fred the Shred was to walk, would there be a problem?

So what is the difference between Fred and the tube workers? Well Fred destroyed a company, RBS which was at one stage one of the worlds biggest banks. Thousands have been thrown on the dole queues. The Tube workers have done their jobs, moving Londoners to home and back. During terrorist outrages such as 7/7 they've shown extraordinary heroism. Whatever the reasons for the financial problems at London Underground, they are nothing to do with the tube workers. They are down to Gordon Brown & his PPP scheme, which collapsed. Again it was clever financial whizz kids, saying that the public sector was inefficient which caused the problems. Has Gordon Brown lost his job?

Boris Johnson's predecessor, Ken Livingstone warned Gordon Brown what would happen. He fought it tooth and nail. He lost and the scheme went through. Bob Crow, the RMT and it's members are now paying for the fall out. The banks were given multi billion bail outs. London Underground hasn't been. It seems cuts are order of the day. Unlike the billions given to the bankers, much of which has found it's way into fat bonus cheques for senior managers, the tube workers are now put in a position where their jobs are on the line.

Bob Crow is not an attractive character. He's not an oil painting, he's spiky and abbrasive. He doesn't care for pleasantry. He really doesn't care who he upsets in his mission to get a good deal for his members. If I was getting divorced, he's the type of lawyer I'd want. If I was getting threatened with the sack he's the type of union rep I'd want. His negotiating technique is to grab his opponent by the balls and squeeze till they squeal. Not nice, not pretty but crudely effective.

I don't know about you, but I wish someone had squeezed Sir Fred Goodwin by the balls until he squealed and gave his pension back. I'd be quite happy for that person to be Bob Crow.