Railway strikes?

[Alfie.meadsy]

Do rail strikes effect you at all? For me it has affected going to work and college. And has also made me miss out on going to the footy. 

[Alfie.meadsy]

What do you all think of the rail strikes?

[davieG]

What it's all about Alfie.

 

But it hasn't affected me yet.

[SemperEadem]

4 minutes ago, Alfie.meadsy said:

What do you all think of the rail strikes?

Hope they get what they are after.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Inconvenienced me slightly in that I had to come back later than I'd like for Christmas but I can't say I was all that bothered, just booked a few days later. 

 

Agree with why they're doing it 100%.

[davieG]

Aren't the Train Drivers the highest paid drivers in Europe?

 

 

https://www.euronews.com/travel/2022/12/23/train-strikes-these-are-the-countries-that-pay-train-drivers-the-most-and-the-least-in-eur#:~:text=In 2021%2C the estimated average,%2C Luxembourg%2C Germany and France.

 

[urban.spaceman]

Inconvenienced me in the summer as I had a ticket to see Green Day but ended up borrowing a car and driving down to my mates place then driving into Stratford with them. Got back at 4am. Ended up having a much better time than if I’d got the train. 

[Fox92]

Been able to switch services easy whenever it's happened and I've been going to a game.

 

But I support the strikes and hope they achieve what they want.

[grobyfox1990]

Inconvenienced me with work and socials. Fully behind them as a few days of inconvenience is better than the terrible service we have now getting worse long term 

[CosbehFox]

53 minutes ago, davieG said:

Aren't the Train Drivers the highest paid drivers in Europe?

 

 

https://www.euronews.com/travel/2022/12/23/train-strikes-these-are-the-countries-that-pay-train-drivers-the-most-and-the-least-in-eur#:~:text=In 2021%2C the estimated average,%2C Luxembourg%2C Germany and France.

 

Are people still using the ‘train drivers’ as a stick to beat it with? The vast majority of strikers are train staff. 
 

personally I’ve just had to move days around when I come in office and sometimes late starts/finishes. Been more of an issue at weekends but it’s inadvertently meant I’ve drank less. Actually find midweek the service is no better or worse than it is traditionally 

Edited 28 December 2022 by CosbehFox

[foxile5]

1 hour ago, Alfie.meadsy said:

What do you all think of the rail strikes?

I think that any public inconvenience is an indicator of the need to pay rail staff fairly.

 

I support all industrial action because not supporting workers would mean that I support fantastically wealthy business owners in their quest to compromise the public for personal profit.

 

 

 

 

[Alfie.meadsy]

4 minutes ago, foxile5 said:

I think that any public inconvenience is an indicator of the need to pay rail staff fairly.

 

I support all industrial action because not supporting workers would mean that I support fantastically wealthy business owners in their quest to compromise the public for personal profit.

 

 

 

 

I agree with you.

[Alfie.meadsy]

4 minutes ago, foxile5 said:

I think that any public inconvenience is an indicator of the need to pay rail staff fairly.

 

I support all industrial action because not supporting workers would mean that I support fantastically wealthy business owners in their quest to compromise the public for personal profit.

 

 

 

 

I don’t get the Privatisation of the railways. Because they should be providing a public service and putting all the money back into the Railway. Went on EMR a few times seats are always awful in terms of being clean. When I used to travel on the previous operator (East Midlands Trains) it never happened.  

[filthyfox]

1 hour ago, Alfie.meadsy said:

What do you all think of the rail strikes?

I think it achieving the goal of all strikes.  To make things as inconvenient as possible for the customer.

 

Next year, I am sure there will be Local Government strikes and work to rule.  THEN people will appreciate our bin men, road workers and environmental health officials.

[Apollo]

The pay rise they're asking for is a joke, Mick Lynch and his mob are a horrible lot

Edited 28 December 2022 by Apollo

[Apollo]

32 minutes ago, foxile5 said:

I think that any public inconvenience is an indicator of the need to pay rail staff fairly.

 

I support all industrial action because not supporting workers would mean that I support fantastically wealthy business owners in their quest to compromise the public for personal profit.

 

 

 

 

so anytime anyone goes on strike regardless of the circumstances, you blindly support them?

[Xen]

I live in Manchester now (since just before the first strikes started) and don't drive, so I'm reliant on the trains.

 

It's made planning trips difficult, and more expensive when i've had to make other arrangements (like a hotel and coach trip to get back after Fulham). It's a massive inconvenience, obviously, but that's kinda the point. As with most of the other strike action at the moment, I back it and hope they get what they're after.

 

Ultimately I hope we go back to the days of a public railway as it's a joke, particularly some of the services in the NW. 

[tom27111]

2 hours ago, Alfie.meadsy said:

What do you all think of the rail strikes?

I'm going to step aside and let @Milo answer this 

 

Not been a good few months has it mate? 

[FoxesDeb]

2 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

I'm going to step aside and let @Milo answer this 

 

Not been a good few months has it mate? 

On the flip side we also need to hear from @Leicester_Loyal

[Parafox]

2 hours ago, davieG said:

Aren't the Train Drivers the highest paid drivers in Europe?

 

 

https://www.euronews.com/travel/2022/12/23/train-strikes-these-are-the-countries-that-pay-train-drivers-the-most-and-the-least-in-eur#:~:text=In 2021%2C the estimated average,%2C Luxembourg%2C Germany and France.

 

It's not the drivers, it's the ancillary staff. And It's not just about pay but also a decline in working conditions, extra shift hours added to rotas, the potential compromise to public safety via a reduction of staffing levels.

[Milo]

22 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

I'm going to step aside and let @Milo answer this 

 

Not been a good few months has it mate? 

Haha - my issues aren’t particularly with the strikers, more with the RMT as an organisation. 
 

My comments on the other post got quite robust replies.
Some of the more frothy mouthed/knee jerker types on here assumed it was an attack on all those in other walks of life who think they have no other option left open to them than to strike. It really wasn’t. 
 

The hierarchy of the RMT, in my opinion, are awful. Alex Gordon and his cronies are pretty special. 
 

Anyway - they’re doing what they’re doing and we have to adjust. 
 

[Leicester_Loyal]

Cheers Deb.

 

Without boring you all with all the details it's essentially reskilling a lot of us, asking us to have individual rosters, working more nights, more weekends, reducing team sizes, new contracts for new starters or on promotion (on worse money in general and on worse money for working nights and weekends), 12 hour shifts becoming 8, meaning more shifts every 6 weeks. I already do 3 weekends in 6 and mostly night shifts, I don't want to do anymore. There's plenty of other things as well.

 

I'm not really fussed about most of these changes, they'll never work, I've waited years for certain courses, if they introduce 2 different disciplines into my skills matrix then all I'll be doing is re-doing courses for 4 months out of 12, as there's so many. This was how it was years ago and it was changed because it was inefficient and ineffective. The Government is using the 'Modernisation' terms to the public, but it's essentially attacking terms and conditions.

 

That's why the deal has been rejected, if they offered us 2% but said you can keep your terms and conditions then we'd happily sign up to it.

 

I don't really agree with the politics that gets brought into it and consider myself centre to slightly right rather than far left which seems to stem from the RMT.

 

@Milo I missed your other post, what options do you think are open to us? We've essentially been told either you accept or the changing are coming in anyway, and that's what they're trying, consultation has started and the documents have been sent out, voluntary redundancies are occurring in March (3.3k applied for it, only around 800 are getting it, which shows how many employees want out)

 

Striking is the last option, and we've been in pay talks for years. When you walk into a room and NR just say no, no payrise, goodbye, what else could we do? Striking so far has got us a few improvements on the original offer, we'd have never have got them without striking sadly.

 

Also the deal for the TOCs was agreed, it was ready to be signed then the Government wanted to insert Driver Only Operation into the deal, which they knew was never going to be accepted. I think they're doing it on purpose, not sure why though, very strange.

 

Not everyone is on 50k a year, train drivers yeah, they are, but your average bloke on the tools on track isn't earning 60k, he's on a 23k-30k salary, has a 24/7 shift pattern, works 3 weekends in 6 and works mostly nights. It's also a lot of responsibility, essentially one mistake can kill us, one wrong call can lead you into serious trouble, one bad day at work and you could have killed passengers on a train and be facing years in prison.

 

EDIT: Also forgot to say they want to reduce maintenance that we do by 50%, which from a safety point of view is absolutely mental, but as usual, boots on the ground won't be listened to and sadly we'll end up with another train accident where hopefully no-one is hurt, which it'll then revert back to exactly how it is now.

Edited 28 December 2022 by Leicester_Loyal

[Parafox]

26 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Cheers Deb.

 

Without boring you all with all the details it's essentially reskilling a lot of us, asking us to have individual rosters, working more nights, more weekends, reducing team sizes, new contracts for new starters or on promotion (on worse money in general and on worse money for working nights and weekends), 12 hour shifts becoming 8, meaning more shifts every 6 weeks. I already do 3 weekends in 6 and mostly night shifts, I don't want to do anymore. There's plenty of other things as well.

 

I'm not really fussed about most of these changes, they'll never work, I've waited years for certain courses, if they introduce 2 different disciplines into my skills matrix then all I'll be doing is re-doing courses for 4 months out of 12, as there's so many. This was how it was years ago and it was changed because it was inefficient and ineffective. The Government is using the 'Modernisation' terms to the public, but it's essentially attacking terms and conditions.

 

That's why the deal has been rejected, if they offered us 2% but said you can keep your terms and conditions then we'd happily sign up to it.

 

I don't really agree with the politics that gets brought into it and consider myself centre to slightly right rather than far left which seems to stem from the RMT.

 

@Milo I missed your other post, what options do you think are open to us? We've essentially been told either you accept or the changing are coming in anyway, and that's what they're trying, consultation has started and the documents have been sent out, voluntary redundancies are occurring in March (3.3k applied for it, only around 800 are getting it, which shows how many employees want out)

 

Striking is the last option, and we've been in pay talks for years. When you walk into a room and NR just say no, no payrise, goodbye, what else could we do? Striking so far has got us a few improvements on the original offer, we'd have never have got them without striking sadly.

 

Also the deal for the TOCs was agreed, it was ready to be signed then the Government wanted to insert Driver Only Operation into the deal, which they knew was never going to be accepted. I think they're doing it on purpose, not sure why though, very strange.

 

Not everyone is on 50k a year, train drivers yeah, they are, but your average bloke on the tools on track isn't earning 60k, he's on a 23k-30k salary, has a 24/7 shift pattern, works 3 weekends in 6 and works mostly nights. It's also a lot of responsibility, essentially one mistake can kill us, one wrong call can lead you into serious trouble, one bad day at work and you could have killed passengers on a train and be facing years in prison.

 

EDIT: Also forgot to say they want to reduce maintenance that we do by 50%, which from a safety point of view is absolutely mental, but as usual, boots on the ground won't be listened to and sadly we'll end up with another train accident where hopefully no-one is hurt, which it'll then revert back to exactly how it is now.

This.

 

Saying it how it is without any political or union rhetoric or bias.

 

 

 

 

Edited 28 December 2022 by Parafox

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

I can't remember the last time there was a strike I didn't support. The way the daily mail and the like make it out is simply because the people who own them type of papers are the ruling class and want to keep all their power at the expense of the vast majority of honest, hard working people. Record profits everywhere you look but real time pay decreases and services being rendered ummanegabe. Anyone who doesn't support it needs to be questioned imo. 

[Fox92]

1 minute ago, Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot said:

I can't remember the last time there was a strike I didn't support. The way the daily mail and the like make it out is simply because the people who own them type of papers are the ruling class and want to keep all their power at the expense of the vast majority of honest, hard working people. Record profits everywhere you look but real time pay decreases and services being rendered ummanegabe. Anyone who doesn't support it needs to be questioned imo. 

The Daily Mail, and similar media outlets, paint it as everyone who continues to work against everyone who strikes. It's so frustrating. People who want better are put down and it's sad to see.