The announcement today that RMT Union leader Bob Crow has pocketed a 12 per cent pay rise should be met with indignation. As millions of people in both the public and private sector are forced to accept painful pay cuts or pay freezes, fat cat union boss, Crow, has accepted a £10,000 salary increase. Figures published by the Daily Mail today show Mr Crow’s basic pay rose from £122,167 to £133,183 plus expenses taking total remuneration to £145,548. However, such generous remuneration for union bosses appears to be rife across the public sector unions, as our research on trade union executive pay showed.
What makes Crow’s decision more audacious is that yesterday the RMT union announced plans for a strike on the London Underground over the August bank holiday weekend, a date clearly chosen for maximum hassle when thousands of tourists will be visiting the city. With spending reductions across the public sector desperately needed, the unions have aggressively talked of joint strike action to try and scupper necessary action. Are these the actions of someone who claims to represent the views of the masses, or are these the actions of a man acting in his own selfish interests? I would say the latter; he isn’t defending the interests of ordinary workers but the power of his union. Transport Minister Norman Baker echoed this sentiment:
“Bob Crow talks about fairness but this self-styled man of the people should be judged by his actions. Crow seems more interested in feathering his own nest than working with Government to create an efficient cost effective rail service.”
For a man who called for mass strikes which would effectively bring the capital to a halt to be unashamedly claiming such a pay rise is an outrage, and the sooner the government acts to curb the power of reckless fat cats like Crow the better.
By Christopher Daniel