London: One of Britain’s most powerful and militant trade union leaders, Bob Crow, who led strikes that shut down the London Tube on numerous occasions, died on Tuesday at the age of 52, his union announced.
A colourful, left-wing Londoner with a dog called Castro and a passion for Millwall Football Club, Crow had been general secretary of the RMT transport union since 2002.
He was constantly involved in disputes and campaigns on behalf of his 80,000 members, winning the admiration of transport workers — and the hatred of many commuters.
“It is with the deepest regret that RMT has to confirm that our general secretary Bob Crow sadly passed away in the hours of this morning,” the union said in a brief statement.
Crow, who had one daughter, died in a hospital near his home in east London after suffering a massive heart attack, according to the Evening Standard newspaper.
Crow was something of a working-class hero. He left school at 16 and worked on the railways before joining the management of the RMT, promising always to do the “very best” for his members.
He secured good salaries and conditions for them through hard-nosed negotiating tactics including strikes, most recently last month when parts of the Underground network in the capital were shut down for 48 hours.
“Bob Crow was admired by his members and feared by employers, which is exactly how he liked it,” said Manuel Cortes, leader of the TSSA rail union, which joined last month’s strike.
“It was a privilege to campaign and fight alongside him because he never gave an inch.”
Crow still lived in social housing despite his £145,000 (Dh884,884) annual pay and pensions package — two facts which his critics regularly used against him.
In his final interview, broadcast on BBC radio on Monday evening, Crow defended his salary, saying: “I think I’m worth it.
“Our members, in the main, have had pay rises every single year right the way through austerity. They’ve got good pensions, good holidays — they could be better.”
Fellow union leaders expressed shock at Crow’s death, while Conservative Mayor of London Boris Johnson paid tribute to a “fighter and a man of character”.
There was no love lost between Johnson and Crow, who held their first conversation for years last month and accused each other of holding a gun to their heads over the strike.
“Whatever our political differences, and there were many, this is tragic news. Bob fought tirelessly for his beliefs and for his members,” the mayor said.
“There can be absolutely no doubt that he played a big part in the success of the Tube, and he shared my goal to make transport in London an even greater success.”
