Tube Drivers: What's The Deal? Average salary £37,800.

[Garage_Doors]

Sales shoppers and sport fans are set to be among millions of people inconvenienced by a Tube drivers' strike on Boxing Day.


The extent of disruption that can be expected on Boxing Day remains unclear


Talks aimed at averting the walkout over pay have broken up without agreement.

The Aslef union has been seeking three extra days' pay and a day off in lieu for its Tube members scheduled to work on Sunday.

It says London Underground (LU) management see it as a normal work day.

General secretary Keith Norman said: "This is not a dispute of the union's making, but one caused by stubborn management intransigence."



Average salary, according to mysalary.co.uk, is £37,800.

Can earn up to £45,000 a year.

Benefits include almost seven weeks' holiday per annum.


LU has accused Aslef of "holding Londoners to ransom" and has argued that Boxing Day working is covered by a long-standing salary agreement.

It claims union leaders walked out of today's talks at the conciliation service, Acas, adding that "It is obviously not the season of goodwill for the leadership of Aslef."

LU has pledged to run as many services as possible, but drivers belonging to the RMT union may choose not to cross picket lines in support of their colleagues.

An RMT spokesman told Sky News: "We're not issuing any guidance to our members."

The stoppage coincides with the start of the post-Christmas sales and a string of top sporting fixtures, including Dagenham v Brighton.

 

[Goring Gull]

Crap shift hours though

 

[Superphil]

I know a Tube Driver, and he is a STH at Selhurst Park. With one hand he gives, and the other......

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

12 grand over the average annual salary for a London based job with crap shift work. I think TfL are getting a very good deal so I can see why the drivers want a bit more.

 

[house your seagull]

get the bus

 

[severnside gull]

They can do what they please but if they screw up getting to Dagenham they will be well out of order!

Seriously, IMO they are out of order anyway and their actions would be hard to justify at any time**. let alone when so many are suffering from job losses and pay cuts plus substantial price increases (not least in travel costs). They get no sympathy from me I'm afraid...... straight on to my "they can f*** right off" list along with bankers.

**if their conditions of employment were being changed/worsened they would have a fair argument but as they haven't altered in terms of shifts or overtime pay since these people took the jobs there is no reasonable argument

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Crap shift hours though

And you need to buy a house with a big enough driveway to park the train in when you get home.

 

[Billy the Fish]

12 grand over the average annual salary for a London based job with crap shift work. I think TfL are getting a very good deal so I can see why the drivers want a bit more.

Are you serious?

I'm not begrudging them that amout of pay, fair play for getting it over the years, but you can't really say the drivers are getting a bad deal when you look at comparable semi skilled jobs i.e bus driver or lorry driver.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Are you serious?

I'm not begrudging them that amout of pay, fair play for getting it over the years, but you can't really say the drivers are getting a bad deal when you look at comparable semi skilled jobs i.e bus driver or lorry driver.

I am serious. I'm not saying tube drivers are getting a bad deal, but I do think they're slightly undervalued. Bus drivers and lorry drivers get poor pay...and I'm all for upping their salaries as well.

 

[Chicken Run]

I am serious. I'm not saying tube drivers are getting a bad deal, but I do think they're slightly undervalued. Bus drivers and lorry drivers get poor pay...and I'm all for upping their salaries as well.

Why stop there, f*** it, up everyones salaries....... whoopie and if they dont, f*** em we going on strike. Oh and a side note, our very own Norman Baker suck my hairy lozenge is/was a tube driver i thik?

 

[Gully]

Can't see what their gripe is, that sounds like a very good salary, particularly compared to bus and lorry drivers...and it isn't as if they need to master a blooming sat-nav either!

 

[KNC]

I am serious. I'm not saying tube drivers are getting a bad deal, but I do think they're slightly undervalued. Bus drivers and lorry drivers get poor pay...and I'm all for upping their salaries as well.

Is the right answer. Very demanding job being a tube driver. ASLEF are doing what their members expect of them.

 

[severnside gull]

Are you serious?

I'm not begrudging them that amout of pay, fair play for getting it over the years, but you can't really say the drivers are getting a bad deal when you look at comparable semi skilled jobs i.e bus driver or lorry driver.

Indeed. It is a crap job with crap hours and if you could imagine yourself sitting in the cab driving through dark tunnels with limited control and the need to concentrate for every second to avoid any mistakes that would risk the lives of your passengers........................

But this threatened action isn't about that. It's about trying to get a bit extra money for working a day they would normally be required to work anyway. The combination of a Bank Holiday and a Sunday seems to be viewed as a good enough reason to try and wring extra money out of fare-paying customers (the ultimate payee if their demands succeed). There was a time when this would have been considered (by me at least) to be a legitimate ploy but my feeling now is that time has passed.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Is the right answer. Very demanding job being a tube driver. ASLEF are doing what their members expect of them.

I ask out of ignorance rather than being accussational, but what is demanding about it, apart from concentrating on what you're doing ?

 

[Garage_Doors]

Can't see what their gripe is, that sounds like a very good salary, particularly compared to bus and lorry drivers...and it isn't as if they need to master a blooming sat-nav either!

and there are no traffic jams.

 

[tonymgc]

From what i understand (my missus step dad is a tube driver) they're striking because of the cuts to on platform staff.

 

[vegster]

Poor shifts, working underground in that smelly place, never knowing if your train is going to blow up under you,scraping suicidal commuters off your windscreen... I wouldn't do it for that money.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

I am serious. I'm not saying tube drivers are getting a bad deal, but I do think they're slightly undervalued. Bus drivers and lorry drivers get poor pay...and I'm all for upping their salaries as well.

and where is the money going to come from please?

 

[Southover Street Seagull]

From what i understand (my missus step dad is a tube driver) they're striking because of the cuts to on platform staff.

They are striking because London Underground regard Boxing Day as a normal working day, which most people would agree is not a normal working day.
It would be interesting to see the agreement that LU are talking about, that ASLEF had previously signed up to which covers Bank Holiday cover.

 

[Easy 10]

My missus is working Christmas day AND Boxing day at her care home, thats just the way her shift pattern has fallen. I suppose her and her colleagues could strike, but then the old dears won't get fed or washed, and she knew the hours when she took the job. She's on considerably less than £37k, and doesn't get anything like the amount of holidays they do, but she'll be turning up for work as usual.

I'm with servernside gull. Tube drivers can indeed "f*** right off". In fact I may even venture slightly further and say that they can DO one.