London Dwellers Beware

[HampshireSeagulls]

Looks like the unions are going to hold the Londoners to ransom again. Another union that Maggie forgot to grind under her jackboots, more's the pity.

Tube Strike New Years Eve

 

[London Irish]

Ah yes, Thatcher, that well-known friend of public transport.

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

Ah yes, Thatcher, that well-known friend of public transport.

Yay- that worked!

Right you bastard, now I've got you out in the open - SPONSOR ME!

 

[Billy the Fish]

Bunch of tossers. If i was in charge of LU i'd just tell them either go to work or don't bother coming back. If they don't then the company will go down the pan and no-one will have a job, simple as that.
It's about time those spineless fuckers stood up to that no-neck ugly lard arse Crow. 35 hour week ffs. Why is it that all these union twats think the world owes them a living, what with this and the civil service kicking up a fuss about retiring at 60 while the rest of us will have to work untill well after that age.
Wankers the lot of them

 

[surrey jim]

cue: someone to post the underground song

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

cue: someone to post the underground song

That famous one by the Jam...

Going underground, going underground,
Where the trains don't run and the lazy bastarding union bosses hold the London public to ransom on New Year's Eve.

I'm thinking that this wasn't the one you were after....

 

[The Great Cornholio]

Allow me!

http://www.backingblair.co.uk/london_underground/


Not work safe if you happen to be the one person who hasn't seen it.

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

Allow me!

http://www.backingblair.co.uk/london_underground/


Not work safe if you happen to be the one person who hasn't seen it.

Have a look around the backingblair site, especially some of their Flash videos. Strictly not work safe, strictly uncomfortable, and strictly not for those who like to exist in a comfortable world.

 

[Grizz]

Must admit i really do hope that the Management stand up to the RMT this time and have the balls to actually let the chaos happen. Its been coming for a while and whilst for the majority of the last 5 years Management have spinelessly backed down they really do need to say enough is enough. This happens year in and year out and its the same protaganists every time. Its not just the travelling public who get fed up, its those who actually work for LUL aswell. I don't want to lose a days pay over some nonsensical strike that will neither benefit me, those i work with or LUL in general. You can guarantee your sweat arse that Crow will not lose any money over this.

Don't get me wrong i support the need for having Unions and would strongly defend my right to be represented, as some of the middle management of LUL is a f'ing nightmare. Disciplinary procedures are a joke, i mean what other company would introduce a procedure where if you take 1 day off sick you might aswell take the week off as you get the same 'item' entered onto your sickness record.

What does annoy me about the RMT is that they continually bash out the same nonsense. The Underground is being sorted out in all areas by Tim O'Toole and he put on a very elaborate talk session over the past few months to tell staff what's been happening and what's going to happen in the future. It was quite an honest, straight forward presentation and no matter how many times staff asked the question about re-deployment, restructuring of ticket staff he still gave them a honest answer. No job losses, however ticket office staff will actually fulfill their Multifunctional role and be used elsewhere on station duties. I can't see a problem with that, as i did both roles for years, but the age old seige mentality still exists.

I think the underlieing cause of all this is the mistrust of Management over the years. Staff have been shafted regularly over the past 10-15 years and of course anything new coming in is bound to be greated with plenty of caution. However there is a new American style of management operating now, where Tim O'Toole says i'll listen to you, i'll do what i can to make this transition into a 21st Century railway easy for staff, but you will do it. The RMT need to move with the times aswell and not see everything as a threat. Unfortunately i think Crow and those around him enjoy the power too much to let go of that easily. They use the strike threat as a first resort everytime now instead of a last resort which it should be.

And yes i was a member of the RMT for 6 years and took part in a fair few strikes when on the Stations and as a Manager about the PPP, but after that came in I got increasingly fed up with seeing my wages whittled away in needless strikes, so i left a couple of years back and joined another Union.

Would be interested to hear Stubbsy's take on all this and sorry for waffling on.

Grizz

 

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

Members of the RMT have to drive long metal boxes packed with people hundreds of metres underground. Any of those people could blow the train up at any minute. Their managers don't have to drive the trains.

If they say they want improvements made to safety, I think they might be worth listening to. It's a pity that threatening to strike on new year's eve is the only way they feel they can be listened to.

 

[Grizz]

Originally posted by The Clown of Pevensey Bay Members of the RMT have to drive long metal boxes packed with people hundreds of metres underground. Any of those people could blow the train up at any minute. Their managers don't have to drive the trains

And there you sum up the division that exists in LUL today. The RMT really aren't interested in station staff as they know that whether station staff go on strike or not its the drivers that makes all the difference as too how successful the strike is. I remember the strikes back in 1997/8 when Station Staff were after better conditions, yet the drivers didn't support us, then when the drivers kicked up a fuss a couple of years later it was all out and they expected us all out.

It would be interesting to read what safety concerns the drivers have as the only major problem i can think of that affects their safety at the moment is the piss poor radio systems in use. The Connect project that is meant to be providing secure radio systems to all lines is a bit of a joke, but we've been promised that all lines will have this new radio by 2007. I really don't know what other major factors LUL could introduce to prevent people blowing up trains ala July 7th.

Grizz

 

[Norman Baker suck my lozenge]

Grizz, I thought the real argument for this strike was the repealing of section 12,maybe I'm wrong?!The drivers main concerns at My depot(Morden) are ,as You said piss poor radio systems(half our drivers never heard the code red on 7th july)and the ongoing problems with the tripcocks,anyway must dash,gotta an orphanage to ransack.