Crow must recall NUM

The reports that Bob Crow of the RMT union is going to stand up to the government brings a feeling of deja vu.

Perhaps Mr Crow should study the career of Arthur Scargill, who, as the leader of a trade union representing a government subsidised industry, went down this route in the 1980s.

While it is obvious that Mr Crow is ideologically motivated, his battleground is weak. Reports suggest that Network Rail is much more expensive than its equivalents in Europe. In Scotland the various Citylink services compete on time and are much cheaper than the equivalent rail service. Air services compete on price and time on all the routes from Scotland to London.

Were he to lead his members into industrial action for political reasons, he might find that, as with Mr Scargill, the end result might be that he could end up with the almost complete closure of his industry which would result in the loss of his reported 120,000 salary, pension contributions and expenses.

BRUCE D SKIVINGTON

Gairloch

Wester Ross