Inventive industrial relations

The chaos caused by the tube strike should have inspired a creative opportunity for industrial relations innovation, as well as a PR coup.
Once again, lurid headlines condemning the union leaders who had organised the strike did little to communicate the issues and the heart of the dispute. In general, the Great British unwashed have a negative attitude towards the concept of strikes. If the unions want to win the PR war and get their broader issues addressed, they will need to make us – the commuters – put away personal agendas. If the punters are subjected to hardships, they tend to disappear into their proverbial “me” shells. For the commuter, it becomes a personal issue being unable to go about their own daily business, it is not about comprehending the concepts of rights and freedom, which people have fought for, for many years, and for which they are not prepared to lose.
The RMT general secretary Bob Crow could have averted the public relations disasters that have dogged the union for decades. I despaired at the flurry of soundbites that flooded out of the union HQ as Bob insisted that his union members were willing to compromise as thousands of people endured miserable journeys to their work place. Instead of striking, might it not have been radical for all union members to allow users of the tube network to travel free? Punters would have welcomed the gesture and I am sure the bosses would have been shocked into reaching a quick and meaningful compromise.
I can hear the call echoing across the land… “together for employment, purchasing power, workers’ rights”.