Do you agree with the striking tube workers?

[Lokki 7]

BBC NEWS | England | London | Tube strike will affect millions

Seems to me these guys are living in fairyland. We will soon have 3m unemployed, every industry suffering and shedding jobs, firms going to the wall left right and centre yet these muppets think they have some god given right to a guaranteed job with guaranteed above inflation pay rises despite a shoddy and inefficient service.

To demand this is absolutely nuts right now;

"On Monday last-minute talks between the RMT and London Underground (LU), which lasted for 10 hours, broke down.

LU had offered staff a four-year deal of 1.5% this year and then the inflation rate plus 0.5%; or a two-year deal of 1% now and inflation plus 0.5% in year two.

But the RMT wants a 5% pay rise and a promise of no compulsory redundancies.

About 3,000 RMT members balloted in favour of the strike."

Thoughts?

 

[JJ McClure]

Do they think they're French or something?!

 

[strings]

I agree.

Guarunteed jobs does not work in any industry. I cannot see either, how in a time of economic crisis they want an above-inflation pay rise. Those who have been out of work recently will probably agree that for many having a job right now is an absolute privilage.

 

[seagull_special]

I think its a criminal offense to strike anybody except bankers and politicians

 

[Billy the Fish]

They should tell Bob Crow to go f*** himself. It's wouldn't surprise me if he was only doing this to piss Boris off.

 

[CHAPPERS]

5%?

Mother FUCKERS.

 

[Ernest]

Should be 50% for railway workers not a poxy 5%

 

[BensGrandad]

I do not agree with any strikes end of.

 

[m20gull]

Lucky to be offered any pay rise. My department got no pay rise this year, 25% of our work offshored to Mumbai and 25% compulsory redundancies.

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

Greed. Plain and simple greed. Tube drivers get paid over £30,000 as a starting salary and what do they actually do. Press a few buttons, slide a lever and make the odd grumpy announcement.

 

[withdeanwombat]

%age pay rises mean nothing.

5% of bugger all is not a lot.

No redundancies impacts on the quality of the service which people hammer on about.

Certainly it looks not too bright a move at this time,....but tell me that firms/organisations are not using the current economic climate to maximise profits and I'll point you to your nearest madhouse,or Conservative Club as they prefer to call themselves.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

So there's a discrepancy between what they've been offered and what they actually want.

You'd have thought they wouldn't, ahem, mind the gap.

 

[bhaexpress]

As usual the greedy bastards are trying to hold the people who pay their wages to ransom. I think that any of these strikers who get any sort of benefit should have it stopped. What they forget is that many people who cannot get to work as they can't get there won't get paid.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

%age pay rises mean nothing.

5% of bugger all is not a lot.

.

Hmmm, someone suggested they earn over £30k, so 5% of that is £1500.00, multiplied by 3000 workers, which is £4.5million.

That seems like quite a lot to me, particularly when people are being laid off and having their salaries frozen or even reduced in many other industries.

The point that seems to be annoying most people, myself included, is that nobody is getting a pay rise of 5% at the moment, with the possible exception of footballers, so what makes the Tube drivers think they're special?

 

[Hotchilidog]

Normally I would be backing the workers in an industrial dispute, but when most people are on a 0% pay rise these days, demanding 5% is taking the piss. So I would say not agree with the strikers in this instance.

 

[pork pie]

Bunch of cu nts should get real.

 

[Tooting Gull]

I'm all for the right to strike. Sometimes 'being nice' to an employer doesn't work, and something a little more organised is needed. You're talking, often, about people not earning that much using their one tool to battle against people earning a shitload for better pay and conditions. At the end of the day, some employers only respond to being hit in the pocket, or in this case incurring huge disruption to the service provided.

BUT. What you do learn from industrial action is you have to pick your fights, and your moment. Asking for 5% and no redundancies in the current climate is bonkers. Fair enough to start negotiations from there, but they will get no public support if they don't scale dopwn those demands, because everyone else is losing jobs, homes, or just really struggling.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

f*** me the ONLY people who should be guranteed ANYTHING is MP's lol

Seriously its the emergency services not f***ing tube drivers.

 

[The Grockle]

40 k a year, 8 weeks holidays!!!! They have nothing to complain about.

I say sack the lot re-advertise the jobs at 75% of the wages with just 5 weeks a year holiday. I can't see there being a shortage of applicants!?

They should count themselves lucky, normal train drivers don't command a wage anywhere near theres notr bus drivers.

 

[beorhthelm]

RMT is deliberatly making unreasonable demands. the redundancies are in support roles (ie IT+Accounting) which they inherited when they bailed out the engineering maintenance firm, so theres lots of duplication and literally redundancy of jobs. i wonder how many of those employees are even RMT members? on which point, wasnt the number of votes for action somthing like 1/10 of the membership, shouldnt be allowed to strike if you cant even get say 50% of the membership to vote on the issue (so even then only 25.1% required for action).