Blackmail - plain and simple.

BBC London News are reporting that the RMT union is currently trying to negotiate a deal which would give their members on the Tube an "attendance bonus" - a higher hourly-rate of pay for the duration of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

This threat, and that's certainly what it is, is the lowest and most despicable action the RMT have taken in a long catalogue of holding Londoners to ransom. RMT General Secretary Bob Crow is quoted as saying:

I imagine if our members don't get the same as other group of workers have, we could have difficulties

If that's not a threat then I don't know what is.

Unions are there to provide a fair deal for their members and stop them being exploited - it doesn't give them license to do the exploiting themselves.

This is blackmail, plain and simple, and the sooner this dinosaur gets the extinction it deserves, the better for everyone in London.