Pay Up Or Else

According to news reports the RMT union is calling for its members in Scotland to be paid a bonus for working during the Commonwealth Games which are due to be held in Glasgow in the summer of 2014.

Now I've yet to hear what the rationale for such a payment would be, but if you ask me the whole business looks terribly cynical because what is likely to follow is a threat by the union to call a strike - if their demands are not met.

The RMT leader Bob Crow has been reported as saying:

"With the countdown now well and truly on for the 2014 Commonwealth Games it is important that we reach early agreements for all those transport staff, across all grades, who will carry the additional workload that will be generated both in the run-up to and during the events.

"There will once again be a huge transport challenge and RMT is seeking fair and adequate financial compensation across the board, on a flat-rate basis, for all of those staff involved in delivering the increased transport demands."

I'm sure that if the expected influx of visitors to Glasgow means that transport staff are required to carry out additional work - then that will be achieved through the employment of extra staff or through people being offered 'overtime' or extra hours.

But what I don't follow is why an across the board payment should be paid on a flat-rate basis, ask if transport staff are due some extra cash - simply for doing their jobs.

I can imagine the fuss that the RMT would make if someone suggested a driver should be paid less for having relatively few passengers on his/her train - so why would the union  expect its members to be paid more money during busier periods?

By this logic other public service workers should be treated the same way - police, ambulance workers (fire-fighters around Guy Fawkes night), nurses, doctors, hospital staff  traffic wardens, refuse workers etc etc - so where will it all end.   

I'll reserve my judgment until I see the detail of what the RMT has to say, but in the meantime two word spring to mind - blackmail and extortion.