New London Mayor Boris Johnson has been in the job for less than a week and he already seems to be on a collision course with Tube unions.
Part of his election manifesto was to try to broker a no-strike deal with the RMT union and other rail unions to prevent the endless cycle of Tube strikes, threats of Tube strikes and general bad feeling between union chiefs and management.
But no sooner had Boris got his feet under the desk at City Hall, then RMT leader and Millwall fan Bob Crow said union members would be "insane" to surrender their democratic rights to withdraw their labour. "The RMT wants good industrial relations with the Mayor, but it will never enter into a no-strike agreement," he said (probably quite loudly).
Other union leaders have been equally as dismissive. Keith Norman, boss of train drivers' union Aslef warned that Boris would be heading for "mass confrontation" if he didn't back down.
Unions have also lined up to attack BJ's first policy announcement - banning alcohol on the capital's public transport. The Mayor said as of 1 June, passengers will be ordered off Tube trains and buses if they are boozing - but transport staff will have no actual enforcement powers.
Crow said he hoped Boris would come out with his underpants on over his trousers like Superman one Saturday night to show staff how it should be done. Now there's a photo opportunity not to be missed...
I'd like to see Boris hold firm on his plans to put an end to Tube strikes. For too long the RMT has had a hold over the hundreds of thousands of commuters that use the Tube network everyday. Public sympathy for Tube workers has long since evaporated and if Boris can pull this one off (so to speak), then he will be almost guaranteed another term in office no matter what else happens.
