[Travel] Mick lynch

[Uh_huh_him]

Your inability to take off your red tinted spectacles does your argument absolutely no favours. Yes I'm sure the tabloids have gone overboard on him because God knows he has been fantastic in the face of Tory-sympathetic bleating. But to suggest yesterday that "he just called it out" is absolute bollocks. You're completely wrong - it was a dreadful interview, although it is the only time I've ever seen him on TV where I can honestly say that.

Madeley is embarrassing, but on this he was right. When the whole point of the line of questioning was that the strikes are designed to disrupt during the holiday season, what was the point of Lynch glibly responding that Christmas starts on Christmas Eve? That's not a good enough response, and it isn't calling anything out.

The correct answer was that the deal being offered is a joke, amounts to a 14% pay cut in two years, and in any case has a string of conditions attached that neither his members nor the general public would be happy with. And furthermore, train companies are still allowed to raise fairs by the RPI which is being passed on to greedy executives and shareholders all the while the people doing the work are being told to take a pay cut.

Yeah I would agree with this.
Lynch missed an opportunity against Madeley.

I don't think he "lost it" as the right-wing rags are saying.
But he definitely had the opportunity to answer this question and land some heavy blows on the government's handling of this situation.

Instead he got lost in a pointless discussion on when Christmas starts.
I think he got a bit cocky and missed a golden opportunity to inform many viewers, who might not be fully aware of the true facts behind this strike.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Your inability to take off your red tinted spectacles does your argument absolutely no favours. Yes I'm sure the tabloids have gone overboard on him because God knows he has been fantastic in the face of Tory-sympathetic bleating. But to suggest yesterday that "he just called it out" is absolute bollocks. You're completely wrong - it was a dreadful interview, although it is the only time I've ever seen him on TV where I can honestly say that.

Madeley is embarrassing, but on this he was right. When the whole point of the line of questioning was that the strikes are designed to disrupt during the holiday season, what was the point of Lynch glibly responding that Christmas starts on Christmas Eve? That's not a good enough response, and it isn't calling anything out.

The correct answer was that the deal being offered is a joke, amounts to a 14% pay cut in two years, and in any case has a string of conditions attached that neither his members nor the general public would be happy with. And furthermore, train companies are still allowed to raise fairs by the RPI which is being passed on to greedy executives and shareholders all the while the people doing the work are being told to take a pay cut.

I'm an admirer of Mick Lynch (although I profoundly disagree with him about Brexit) but his interview with Michal Hussein on the Today programme yesterday was also a disaster. He said that the RMT members were still behind the strike, which was proved by their willingness to give up pay. Good point. She then asked him how much the average RMT member would lose, which seemed to me a fair follow-up, and indeed putting a figure on it might have helped strengthen his case. But instead of answering, he went off on a tirade about how she was parrotting lines from the right-wing press.

One of the things that people liked about him at the beginning was that - unlike politicians - he gave straight answers backed up with facts. Unfortunately he seems to be reacting to the pressure from the tabs and has lost sight of the need to deliver his message without playing to the gallery. Something similar happen with Brian Clough - straight talking became deliberate courting of controversy because it was expected of him.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

I agree wit your answer but maybe his glib response was to a set of inane questions. You don't strike if the strike is not going to hurt you strike to cause some pain and then hopefully those suffering turn on those who are the root cause of the pain , the government who keep undermining a deal. Difficult to say that but people should work it out themselves.

One of the big problem with our echo chamber world, is the assumption that everyone is as well/badly informed as you are.

I would guess that GMB audience offered a decent opportunity to land his core message to people who were not fully aware of the true facts behind this strike.

 

[Lenny Rider]

Support for Mick Lynch's strikes plummets as members lose £5K in earnings

MILITANT Mick Lynch lost his cool yesterday as it emerged rail workers are losing up to £5,000 pay for his strikes. The £84,000-a-year union chief brought Britain’s trains to a halt amid plummetin…

www.thesun.co.uk

Is this where the media backlash begins? (okay I know its only The Sun but they will all follow suit at some point)

Playing devils advocate, he's only doing the job he's paid to do, but the 'popular press' will almost certainly spin it a different way.

I knew a Nottinghamshire Miner who eventually went back to work around Xmas 1984, he was in his early 20's with a young family, walking home from the picket line he went passed the local NUM Reps house and saw a tree surrounded with parcels through the window.

I will no doubt be corrected on here, but didnt the Notts miners in the main, not only go back to work in large numbers but left the NUM to form their own Union?

 

[Uh_huh_him]

I'm an admirer of Mick Lynch (although I profoundly disagree with him about Brexit) but his interview with Michal Hussein on the Today programme yesterday was also a disaster. He said that the RMT members were still behind the strike, which was proved by their willingness to give up pay. Good point. She then asked him how much the average RMT member would lose, which seemed to me a fair follow-up, and indeed putting a figure on it might have helped strengthen his case. But instead of answering, he went off on a tirade about how she was parrotting lines from the right-wing press.

One of the things that people liked about him at the beginning was that - unlike politicians - he gave straight answers backed up with facts. Unfortunately he seems to be in danger of believing his own publicity. Something similar happen with Brian Clough - straight talking became deliberate courting of controversy because it was expected of him.

He did answer the question, but in one clip I've heard, they cut off his reply, which was a reasonable response of "it will depend on the members role/shift pattern etc" .
But apparently the Sun know that figure is £5000. They seem to think this shows what an evil POS Lynch is. It really isn't. His members are fully aware they will lose out financially when voting to strike.
Which is why he queried the presenter on why they felt it was the most important piece to follow up on.

The Today programme should be more interested in the paths to resolution, not how much RMT members are prepared to lose to this action.
It really is a trivial stat in this issue,

 

[Randy McNob]

The government figure for the cost of paying 10% to every public sector worker has been gospel on TV today. Apparently it's £23 billion or £1000 for every household. Except that it isn't. Whilst that is 10 % of public sector pay, they'd already promised 3%, so the bill is £18 billion. Then 30% will come back as tax, so just over £12 billion. Then we have a graduated tax system, so many won't pay any and the rest will depend on their income and tax bracket. So no most people won't have to pay £1000 per household. Also this government is happy to spu*k that amount on the military, tax breaks at the top, cross rail etc. And contrary to what Sunak, Hunt and Starmer claim, capitalism is built on nations borrowing money and deficits. Unless people have money to spend, then there is no economy or tax revenue.

Brexit failure was counted as 1,650 per household (every year forth) - and that's celebrated

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Support for Mick Lynch's strikes plummets as members lose £5K in earnings

MILITANT Mick Lynch lost his cool yesterday as it emerged rail workers are losing up to £5,000 pay for his strikes. The £84,000-a-year union chief brought Britain’s trains to a halt amid plummetin…

www.thesun.co.uk

Is this where the media backlash begins? (okay I know its only The Sun but they will all follow suit at some point)

Playing devils advocate, he's only doing the job he's paid to do, but the 'popular press' will almost certainly spin it a different way.

I knew a Nottinghamshire Miner who eventually went back to work around Xmas 1984, he was in his early 20's with a young family, walking home from the picket line he went passed the local NUM Reps house and saw a tree surrounded with parcels through the window.

I will no doubt be corrected on here, but didnt the Notts miners in the main, not only go back to work in large numbers but left the NUM to form their own Union?

Most of the right-wing commentators are already piling on.
They seem to be trying to resurrect memories of Thatcher and Scargill to get the gammons' blood racing again.

This strike is nothing like the miners strike, but I don't expect the comparisons to stop coming anytime soon.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

He did answer the question, but in one clip I've heard, they cut off his reply, which was a reasonable response of "it will depend on the members role/shift pattern etc" .
But apparently the Sun know that figure is £5000. They seem to think this shows what an evil POS Lynch is. It really isn't. His members are fully aware they will lose out financially when voting to strike.
Which is why he queried the presenter on why they felt it was the most important piece to follow up on.

The Today programme should be more interested in the paths to resolution, not how much RMT members are prepared to lose to this action.
It really is a trivial stat in this issue,

Like you, I listened to the whole thing and I agree that the presenter did poorly in trying for her 'Gotcha' moment by nagging away at the same point at the expense of attempting to enlighten us further on more important points. But Mick Lynch could easily have said something like 'less than the Sun are saying' and then got onto other issues. But he came across as defensive and even I began to wonder what he was afraid of in giving out information that I think would only have strengthened his case (whatever the Sun says).

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Like you, I listened to the whole thing and I agree that the presenter did poorly in trying for her 'Gotcha' moment by nagging away at the same point at the expense of attempting to enlighten us further on more important points. But Mick Lynch could easily have said something like 'less than the Sun are saying' and then got onto other issues. But he came across as defensive and even I began to wonder what he was afraid of in giving out information that I think would only have strengthened his case (whatever the Sun says).

Yeah, I'm beginning to think that Lynch has become his own worse enemy.
Journalists are more concerned at beating him in an exchange, than covering the story.
Equally I don't think he is landing the punches he should be.
His argument is strong and the opposition weak.
It would be nice if both sides could stick to the facts, but I think those days are long gone.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Yeah, I'm beginning to think that Lynch has become his own worse enemy.
Journalists are more concerned at beating him in an exchange, than covering the story.
Equally I don't think he is landing the punches he should be.
His argument is strong and the opposition weak.
It would be nice if both sides could stick to the facts, but I think those days are long gone.

There are three sides involved. The rail companies were all set to make an offer to the RMT. The union had agreed to meet to negotiate the offer, but Grant Schapps intervened and told the rail companies to pull out of the meeting.
The government is paying the rail companies every day there is a strike, so the shareholders are not suffering.

 

[El Presidente]

I'm sure I'm not alone on here but from very modest beginnings I have worked hard and accumulated a better life than I was born with.
Are you suggesting I might be happy to then lose a large part of it in the name of some type of communism or alike?

I'm the same, although may be due to the fact that when born didn't own anything, and to be fair it didn't bother me for a good few years too as main job was that of being a baby.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Deeds to my house in the post to you, comrade.

The only people losing the deeds to their house wil be the thousands of ordinary hard working folk who get repossessed thanks to Truss’s disastrous budget.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

If I was still in a union, I'd want a Mick Lynch fighting my corner. He's paid to articulate his members concerns and put them across in a calm, clear, intelligent, articulate manner to the media and - given the chance - employers and government. Which he does. Impressively.

 

[Hotchilidog]

Like you, I listened to the whole thing and I agree that the presenter did poorly in trying for her 'Gotcha' moment by nagging away at the same point at the expense of attempting to enlighten us further on more important points. But Mick Lynch could easily have said something like 'less than the Sun are saying' and then got onto other issues. But he came across as defensive and even I began to wonder what he was afraid of in giving out information that I think would only have strengthened his case (whatever the Sun says).

Mick Lynch has been articulate throughout this dispute. For the most part the journalists and broadcasters interviewing him have been disingenuous in their questioning, looking for Gotcha moments without really listening or engaging with him. Sadly the government have shown no interest in being honest brokers in this dispute and I would not be surprised if Lynch is sick and tired of repeating himself as the situation continues to remain static. The strikes will continue all the while the offers are deliberately unacceptable.

I'm fairly sure the union will be flexible on pay if the T&Cs discussion becomes more amenable to them. The union's demands are very fair in my view. I am no longer a commuter but I had endured the neglect of our railways for 25years or so and I fully support the strike.

I'm due to go to a gig in Birmingham on the 27th and there is a good chance I will miss out on what was going to be a festive reunion with friends from all over the country that I have been looking forward to for ages. I'll be sad to miss it but I will understand the reasons why if I do.

 

[Lenny Rider]

The only people losing the deeds to their house wil be the thousands of ordinary hard working folk who get repossessed thanks to Truss’s disastrous budget.

That for me is a huge concern, two friends of my kids, one Amy's, one Sam's, actually ended up marrying eachother in October, and finally got the keys to their first house, but with one final sting in the tail, the mortgage had been re calibrated at the 11th hour and gone up around £475 a month.

Its basically left them, one a teacher the other an office worker, effectively living on the breadline with a monthly disposable income, after standard outgoings, of less than £500 a month between them.

Replicate that round the country and we have a serious problem on the horizon, what happens to X and Y and thousands of others, if the mortgage rate goes up again early next year?

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

I'm an admirer of Mick Lynch (although I profoundly disagree with him about Brexit) but his interview with Michal Hussein on the Today programme yesterday was also a disaster. He said that the RMT members were still behind the strike, which was proved by their willingness to give up pay. Good point. She then asked him how much the average RMT member would lose, which seemed to me a fair follow-up, and indeed putting a figure on it might have helped strengthen his case. But instead of answering, he went off on a tirade about how she was parrotting lines from the right-wing press.

One of the things that people liked about him at the beginning was that - unlike politicians - he gave straight answers backed up with facts. Unfortunately he seems to be reacting to the pressure from the tabs and has lost sight of the need to deliver his message without playing to the gallery. Something similar happen with Brian Clough - straight talking became deliberate courting of controversy because it was expected of him.

I listened to that interview yesterday too. It was the first time I thought that he actually didn't answer the question - the latest ballot by members showed a significant fall in support for strike action.

Mishal Husain is a fantastic journalist - and for Mick Lynch to say that she was parroting the right wing press was very poor.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

I listened to that interview yesterday too. It was the first time I thought that he actually didn't answer the question - the latest ballot by members showed a significant fall in support for strike action.

Mishal Husain is a fantastic journalist - and for Mick Lynch to say that she was parroting the right wing press was very poor.

As stated above - pursuing the line of one of the Sun's headline points was poor journalism. The point is meaningless - The strikers are aware of what they are individually sacrificing to support the strike. Both parties should have responded better, but it really is a point being driven by the Sun and no one else.

 

[nicko31]

I listened to that interview yesterday too. It was the first time I thought that he actually didn't answer the question - the latest ballot by members showed a significant fall in support for strike action.

Mishal Husain is a fantastic journalist - and for Mick Lynch to say that she was parroting the right wing press was very poor.

But she was, so often broadcasters are taking their lead from the likes of the Mail. We see over and over again.

As for print media, they have form with the Unions, its hardly surprising in the line they take. I suspect many of their journalists are privately envious of having strong union representation. Many are actually paid shit by their non-dom billionaire owners.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I listened to that interview yesterday too. It was the first time I thought that he actually didn't answer the question - the latest ballot by members showed a significant fall in support for strike action.

Mishal Husain is a fantastic journalist - and for Mick Lynch to say that she was parroting the right wing press was very poor.

Here's what led up to that tho, as reported by The Independent

Mick Lynch accuses BBC of ‘parroting’ right-wing propaganda over rail strikes

In a heated morning media round on Tuesday, the RMT leader also accused Good Morning Britain’s Richard Madeley of ‘ranting’.

www.google.com

Asked to put a figure on the financial “sacrifice” he has said his workers have suffered, he said: “That depends on what shifts they were working, what rate of pay they are they earn and how many occasions they have to go out.”

He added: “What I do find annoying though, Mishal, is that you put these lines that are directly taken from the propaganda of the other side. You never show any admiration for the fight that working people are putting up in this country for the rebalancing of our society.

So basically the journalist was trying to wheedle a marquee headline financial figure out of Mick Lynch that would have subsequently been used to belittle the union's stance all over the media. Instead he went on the front foot and got a further point across to boot

 

[KZNSeagull]

He's on Politics Live now - he avoided the question of what figure would be acceptable and stated that Driver Only Operation has always been and will always be unacceptable to the RMT. Wants the rail operators to compromise but is not going to compromise on that as the RMT has held that view for 40 years apparently.