[Politics] The Labour Government

[British Bulldog]

14% for Rail Workers spread over 3 years including payouts for Train Drivers who have left their jobs in the last 2 years , and with the average salary for Drivers hitting £70,000 pa hopefully that should mean that there will be less reliance on food banks for them for a while .

Seems a reasonable pay given the amount of passengers they carry

 

[Rdodge30]

There are strikes with one company, LNER, over management bullying. Other train services duplicate those routes, such as Lumo, Grand Central and Hull trains, so there won't be a great inconvenience to the public.

I can’t imagine there won’t be a great inconvenience? But only time will tell.

Mick Lynch (predictably) demanding similar payout for RMT now.

I don’t want to get drawn into another 12 rounds on here with all the usual suspects but I’m not sure this is going to end well financially…. 22% for the junior doctors 15% for the train drivers …. The 5.5% for nurses is reasonable but a huge expense nonetheless.

We really seem to be encouraging strike action for pay here …. We’ve already had Laurenson from the junior doctors saying prepare to strike again next year

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I can’t imagine there won’t be a great inconvenience? But only time will tell.

Mick Lynch (predictably) demanding similar payout for RMT now.

I don’t want to get drawn into another 12 rounds on here with all the usual suspects but I’m not sure this is going to end well financially…. 22% for the junior doctors 15% for the train drivers …. The 5.5% for nurses is reasonable but a huge expense nonetheless.

We really seem to be encouraging strike action for pay here …. We’ve already had Laurenson from the junior doctors saying prepare to strike again next year

We need doctors, and train drivers. Both sectors have been neglected for years with the previous governments refusing to talk to them at all.
All public sector wages cost money, so hiding under the blanket and hoping it all goes away won't help. There are massive job vacancies in the NHS so if we want a health service then we need to pay them enough to live on.

I would rather that happen than subsidise meals in the House of Commons, giving contracts to mates of mates, or pay heating bills for horses.

 

[Guinness Boy]

We need doctors, and train drivers. Both sectors have been neglected for years with the previous governments refusing to talk to them at all.
All public sector wages cost money, so hiding under the blanket and hoping it all goes away won't help. There are massive job vacancies in the NHS so if we want a health service then we need to pay them enough to live on.

I would rather that happen than subsidise meals in the House of Commons, giving contracts to mates of mates, or pay heating bills for horses.

It's not just the NHS. The issue with LNER is that they don't have enough drivers full stop. Reading between the lines management are using coercive tactics to try and get the existing workforce to cover instead of new hires (and in any case it takes ages to train and qualify a train driver).

Whenever pay rises are discussed in either sector it should be with the understanding that actually the current wage bill is way less than it should be as there are vacancies not being filled.

The government run the NHS and own LNER. It feels like the previous lot deliberately under invested and brought in corporate style managers instead of doers. That's going to take a while to undo.

 

[Me Atome]

Big pay increases are great. I don’t think anybody would argue otherwise. There is of course the obvious question of where does the money come from?
And the new government do seem to have started in a very generous vein. I hope it's all in Rachel Reeves budget.
My concern is that this will lead to big inflation, and all the chaos that brings.

 

[Weststander]

Big pay increases are great. I don’t think anybody would argue otherwise. There is of course the obvious question of where does the money come from?
And the new government do seem to have started in a very generous vein. I hope it's all in Rachel Reeves budget.
My concern is that this will lead to big inflation, and all the chaos that brings.

'Interesting' angle from the SNP reported this week. Claiming the public sector pay awards in England and Wales, have starved Scotland of funds so in part explaining the SNP's management woes.

Doesn't stack up. The pay isn't in the hands of the junior doctors, nurses and train drivers yet.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Big pay increases are great. I don’t think anybody would argue otherwise. There is of course the obvious question of where does the money come from?
And the new government do seem to have started in a very generous vein. I hope it's all in Rachel Reeves budget.
My concern is that this will lead to big inflation, and all the chaos that brings.

Giving pay rises to workers helps the economy because workers spend their money, which assists more employment.
Austerity starves the economy, but strangely there was plenty of money for the VIP lane, Serco and other donors.

 

[Weststander]

Giving pay rises to workers helps the economy because workers spend their money, which assists more employment.
Austerity starves the economy, but strangely there was plenty of money for the VIP lane, Serco and other donors.

Within reason.

Junior doctors, other NHS staff and teachers deserve well above inflation pay rises.

But if everyone on non-high pay simultaneously received a substantial pay increase, for several reasons inflation would escalate.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Within reason.

Junior doctors, other NHS staff and teachers deserve well above inflation pay rises.

But if everyone on non-high pay simultaneously received substantial pay increase, for several reasons inflation would escalate.

Of course, but each occupation is treated on its own merit.

 

[Jim in the West]

Big pay increases are great. I don’t think anybody would argue otherwise. There is of course the obvious question of where does the money come from?
And the new government do seem to have started in a very generous vein. I hope it's all in Rachel Reeves budget.
My concern is that this will lead to big inflation, and all the chaos that brings.

My understanding is that the majority of the NHS pay rises have to be met from within existing budgets (ie, other non-pay areas will need to be cut to make room for the pay increases). Likewise, the majority of the train drivers increase will be funded by the TOCs, without additional support from the government. And the train-drivers' settlement is only marginally above what was previously on the table (in percentage terms)....the main difference is that the requirement for changes in working practices has been dropped. Train fares may increase marginally more than they might otherwise have done, but it'll be miniscule in the grand scheme of things. And, to counter the potential inflationary effect, there's the fact that we will avoid the negative impact of operations and trains being cancelled.

 

[Rdodge30]

Border Control at Heathrow going out on strike

 

[Me Atome]

Giving pay rises to workers helps the economy because workers spend their money, which assists more employment.
Austerity starves the economy, but strangely there was plenty of money for the VIP lane, Serco and other donors.

That's the theory. But as I said my biggest fear in this is inflation.

 

[abc]

Yes, that's exactly it. Train drivers are such well-known wusses.

No idea but they do appear somewhat work shy

 

[Bry Nylon]

14% for Rail Workers

They’ll be chuffed with that.

 

[beorhthelm]

My understanding is that the majority of the NHS pay rises have to be met from within existing budgets (ie, other non-pay areas will need to be cut to make room for the pay increases). Likewise, the majority of the train drivers increase will be funded by the TOCs, without additional support from the government. And the train-drivers' settlement is only marginally above what was previously on the table (in percentage terms)....the main difference is that the requirement for changes in working practices has been dropped. Train fares may increase marginally more than they might otherwise have done, but it'll be miniscule in the grand scheme of things. And, to counter the potential inflationary effect, there's the fact that we will avoid the negative impact of operations and trains being cancelled.

most the TOC are relying on heavy subsidy to run. the money for pay rises comes from those subs, efficency savings (less overtime, or staff reductions somewhere), or fare increases. as the deal is suppose to have no changes to conditions, and fares are constrained to inflation rate rise, the tax payer will be funding this increase.

 

[Weststander]

most the TOC are relying on heavy subsidy to run. the money for pay rises comes from those subs, efficency savings (less overtime, or staff reductions somewhere), or fare increases. as the deal is suppose to have no changes to conditions, and fares are constrained to inflation rate rise, the tax payer will be funding this increase.

TOC income is £9.2b per annum, costs £11.7b. We pick up the difference. The difference is about to grow.

 

[Me Atome]

most the TOC are relying on heavy subsidy to run. the money for pay rises comes from those subs, efficency savings (less overtime, or staff reductions somewhere), or fare increases. as the deal is suppose to have no changes to conditions, and fares are constrained to inflation rate rise, the tax payer will be funding this increase.

The taxpayer will fund all the increases.

 

[Rdodge30]

To be honest I was very confident that Rachel Reeves would be a fiscally responsible Chancellor- background in Bank of England etc … but this is one hell of a spend and it’s not stopping yet. If she is to stick to her own affordability rules then taxes will have to go up and sooner or later be it this year or next it will probably be income tax and NI.

I’m surprised really, I wasn’t expecting this sort of spend so early and we are not even into the green investment schemes yet.

It seems like this was always the plan so I’m assuming it’s all been costed. Time will tell

 

[Bry Nylon]

To be honest I was very confident that Rachel Reeves would be a fiscally responsible Chancellor- background in Bank of England etc … but this is one hell of a spend and it’s not stopping yet. If she is to stick to her own affordability rules then taxes will have to go up and sooner or later be it this year or next it will probably be income tax and NI.

I’m surprised really, I wasn’t expecting this sort of spend so early and we are not even into the green investment schemes yet.

It seems like this was always the plan so I’m assuming it’s all been costed. Time will tell

According to my very well-placed Westminster sauce, the current in-joke among Cabinet ministers is, “If in doubt, run it past the PM; and if you can’t get hold of Sue Gray, try Keir Starmer instead.”

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

According to my very well-placed Westminster sauce, the current in-joke among Cabinet ministers is, “If in doubt, run it past the PM; and if you can’t get hold of Sue Gray, try Keir Starmer instead.”

My. How we laughed.