[News] Braking news - more train strikes over the Christmas period announced

[pure_white]

Lnych obviously not content with being this years Effigy wants to be on top of every bonfire in 2023 too (yes I know strictly speaking these latest are at the very end of 2022)

 

[Rookie]

Hopefully the members stand up to their 70s throwback leader who just wants to play politics.
What public support they had will quickly disappear when people in non public service jobs aren’t getting a pay rise.

 

[maresfield seagull]

How many on here commenting are actually impacted by the rail strikes ?
Not just every other weekend for the football I mean on a daily basis !
Are you fully aware of the conditions that are forcing these people to strike ?
Many cannot afford to btw

 

[Thunder Bolt]

 

[jackalbion]

Hopefully the members stand up to their 70s throwback leader who just wants to play politics.
What public support they had will quickly disappear when people in non public service jobs aren’t getting a pay rise.

Their members vote for it consistently, and rightly so. If this country is to have growth, then people need more income. Not handing more money to wealth hoarding billionaires.

 

[jackalbion]

How many on here commenting are actually impacted by the rail strikes ?
Not just every other weekend for the football I mean on a daily basis !
Are you fully aware of the conditions that are forcing these people to strike ?
Many cannot afford to btw

I think if people really had a look inside the industry right now, they would see that its in a sorry state even without strikes. There needs to be investment in the system for it to work.

 

[Rookie]

Their members vote for it consistently, and rightly so. If this country is to have growth, then people need more income. Not handing more money to wealth hoarding billionaires.

Do they?
Was the offer put to the members before being rejected out of hand?
I’m sure everyone would love more money in their pay packets, unfortunately the world doesn’t work like that. Non public sector employees will, for the most part, not get an above inflation pay rise because it’s not sustainable.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Don’t derail this thread

Sorry Weststander, I got carriage-d away.

 

[Zeberdi]

How many on here commenting are actually impacted by the rail strikes ?
Not just every other weekend for the football I mean on a daily basis !

Yes as posted earlier in the thread

Not that it seems to have made any difference to anything

 

[jackalbion]

Do they?
Was the offer put to the members before being rejected out of hand?
I’m sure everyone would love more money in their pay packets, unfortunately the world doesn’t work like that. Non public sector employees will, for the most part, not get an above inflation pay rise because it’s not sustainable.

Maybe the non public sector employees should unionise then and get a good pay deal

 

[jackalbion]

I’m getting fed up with all these strikes tbh - I don’t drive, and on a low income. I have had to repeatedly fork out for taxis over the past 6 mnths to get to alternative stations while travelling including when trying to get to the Amex from Norfolk and ended up missing one game I had a ticket for as well as being unable to get to one’s I wanted to.

I’ve had to pay out for taxis (on top of the cost of my rail tickets) to get to alternate station connections when one I would normally use has suspended services or excessive delays when travelling post strike days. More worrying is I’m also totally dependent on trains to get to my hospital appointments - several of which I’ve had to cancel (including having to wait another 2 weeks for urgent treatment in one instance) I have 4 hospital appointments between 12-22nd December one of which is a cancer check up which depend on trains running- all of which will be impacted and may need to be cancelled until after the new Year. If I am well enough, Im also supposed to be travelling to London on 22nd and returning on 26 which is also looking increasingly problematic!

I do have some sympathy for the rail workers and realise it’s not just about pay but all these strikes impact more heavily on people that don’t have alternative transport, who live in semi-rural areas, are on low income themselves and/or have disabilities.

Incidentally at rural stations, there are no open ticket office or manned stations for the bulk of the time anyway- you have to phone ahead for assisted travel if needed and if you are lucky, may get help from the conductor on the train ((if there is one).

I sometimes wonder if the people criticising others for not having enough sympathy for the railway workers are the same people bearing the brunt of the disadvantages when there are no trains running?

Rant over.

I do have a lot of sympathy with your situation, I don’t have a car either so trains are my only option, I think it has to come to a head soon, as this level of operation just isn’t sustainable. It’s shit for everyone, it makes away games a slog for me personally when it’s in a car (I know this is truly a first world problem, but it’s a problem none the less), but it’s even shitter for my mates who won’t get to work in pubs and just lose income if they do get there, it isn’t fair on them, but these things often aren’t. These strikes could not be ended however because the Rail Delivery Group said they wanted to close ALL ticket offices and make all trains drivers only. I think the problem is since COVID the government has decided to run trains services into the ground and not make them useful for anything. My local line in Sussex has gone from 4 trains to Brighton an hour to 2, it’s no longer a convenient service, if the government want to get the best out of the railways they have to be a service which provides convinience, rather than that of profit that, is what it has become. Railways can be a great promoter of growth and social mobility if they can provide these services, and I think they should be a public service like the NHS that is there to help people, not to turn a profit.

 

[Rookie]

Maybe the non public sector employees should unionise then and get a good pay deal

I’m sure the small and medium businesses which form a huge chunk of the economy would love to give pay rises, but at the moment they are having a difficult time paying the bills to keep the business open. Not all businesses are run by millionaires/billionaires/ pension funds.

 

[jackalbion]

I’m sure the small and medium businesses which form a huge chunk of the economy would love to give pay rises, but at the moment they are having a difficult time paying the bills to keep the business open. Not all businesses are run by millionaires/billionaires/ pension funds.

But this is also my point, somehow money has to get into people’s hands. For example with a real terms pay cut, I spend less at small businesses, I used to get a coffee on the way to work, and when I’d watch the England game I’d have got 6 pints not 3, but if prices go up without a pay rise in my job, I’m going to spend less. Until the government find a way to bring costs down (they don’t seem to be bothered in finding a solution), then wages of someone needs to go up.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Do they?
Was the offer put to the members before being rejected out of hand?
I’m sure everyone would love more money in their pay packets, unfortunately the world doesn’t work like that. Non public sector employees will, for the most part, not get an above inflation pay rise because it’s not sustainable.

They haven’t had a pay rise for two years, and the offer is 4%, half the rate of inflation.
I have already pointed out, that this offer, low as it is, is dependent on the workers accepting every one of the rail companies/government demands in changes to working hours, holidays, driver only Tywin’s, unmanned stations, and ultimately fire and rehire.
Train fares won’t go down, and tax payers money won’t improve the service, just rich bosses getting richer.

 

[beorhthelm]

How many on here commenting are actually impacted by the rail strikes ?
Not just every other weekend for the football I mean on a daily basis !
Are you fully aware of the conditions that are forcing these people to strike ?
Many cannot afford to btw

are you? there's 3 seperate distputes going on, drivers, train staff, national rail. one common theme, union resistance to change.

I think if people really had a look inside the industry right now, they would see that its in a sorry state even without strikes. There needs to be investment in the system for it to work.

sure, investment from the public purse. and what do the unions say to that? dont want to change any working practices, keep everything the same. how's investment supposed to work if nothing new is allowed?

 

[jackalbion]

are you? there's 3 seperate distputes going on, drivers, train staff, national rail. one common theme, union resistance to change.


sure, investment from the public purse. and what do the unions say to that? dont want to change any working practices, keep everything the same. how's investment supposed to work if nothing new is allowed?

Because the Union aren’t resistant to change, not quite sure what you are aiming at. Every new piece of technology that has come in recently has been done is done in tandem with the Union. ATO in the core section of the Thameslink has been done massively with the help of Union approval. New software for train crew diagramming has been brought in with the unions as well. This idea that the unions are blocking anything new is just some right wing GB News bollocks that you seem to have lapped up without any knowledge whatsoever. The change they are enforcing will make the service poorer, lower train crew numbers as proposed and lower signallers will cause more issues with covering services, which is already creating a poor service. Safety as well has fallen over the last few years, with fatal and non fatal accidents rising (Scotland, Salisbury, Tonbridge derailment a few months ago) to name a few. Plenty of new systems could be implemented with the Unions like in Europe, for example European Train Control, but the government won’t invest in the software. The whole system needs reform, and the first thing is the way the government interacts with the system and the mental franchise system.

 

[clapham_gull]

Hopefully the members stand up to their 70s throwback leader who just wants to play politics.
What public support they had will quickly disappear when people in non public service jobs aren’t getting a pay rise.

They elected him. When you are a member of a Union (you pay for it) you allow the leaders to go public and take the flak. If they didn't want him there he'd be gone.

 

[jackalbion]

Thanks!

Not getting being able to get the the Amex is probably the least of my problems - I would have more sympathy if the strikes were spread out instead of as they are in the next round. Sorry but when people like me can’t get to hospital for potentially life saving treatment or not being able to travel to spend Christmas with their families- they will loose what public support they have.

We are living in a world of double standards of political activism - I’m sure there is a number of people here who have loudly condemned climate activists for causing inconvenience/blocking roads saying they are stopping them from getting to work etc and say that their methods deafens their ears to the fact we are destroying the planet - there is a certain amount of truth in that.

So maybe the rail staff might want to look at their methods because the way they are going, and striking at times that causes the most distress to normal people just trying to go about their daily business - more and more members of the public will be alienated from their cause.

Ps the only train out of my town is by one train an hour in either of 2 directions

I think these strikes are designed to be as disruptive as possible, to force the government into action, I think they've got 80% of the way there by forcing the government around the table, and talks are carrying on all week. I think we are near the end, but it’ll be a grind to get there, but if these are a success for everyone, I think it’ll be great for all workers as a whole. I think they’ve been tactful with the timing, the new announced ones today don’t have a HUGE affect on service as they start at 18:00 24th and finish at 06:00 27th, its more aimed at engineering work. So hopefully that shouldn’t be a probably and it’ll hit the companies where it hurts not the customer.

 

[Saunders]

You can join one. You don’t have to have one organised at work. Just contact one and set up a direct debit.

Yes you can and it is all well and good till you say you are now on strike...

 

[Saunders]

I think these strikes are designed to be as disruptive as possible, to force the government into action, I think they've got 80% of the way there by forcing the government around the table, and talks are carrying on all week. I think we are near the end, but it’ll be a grind to get there, but if these are a success for everyone, I think it’ll be great for all workers as a whole. I think they’ve been tactful with the timing, the new announced ones today don’t have a HUGE affect on service as they start at 18:00 24th and finish at 06:00 27th, its more aimed at engineering work. So hopefully that shouldn’t be a probably and it’ll hit the companies where it hurts not the customer.

They arent though are they, if they were they would affect rush hour business workers but those arent the times or days targetted.