Most liked posts in thread: Train Strikes Doncaster 30/7/2022+Hartlepool(A) 20/8/2022

For 12-14 months training on and off the job plus about 10 hrs a week overtime every week you might be right otherwise put Grant Shapps to the back of your mind….Hes a proven fraud!

You have absolutely zero idea what driving trains iinvolves, especially when you have a 1,000 people behind you travelling at 125 mph. Don’t spout Government crap. It’s a daunting occupation!

 

I understand that. But it does not pay tax. It does set the standard for the next generation and one Beyond that, in terms of job stability, beyond the rail network.
Truth, do I honestly want to solely trust 'technology' at 125mph and not human intervention, if appropriate. I'm uncomfortable.

Strikes are frustrating but we have to be very careful we don't take away the rights of workers further. Our decisions today impact our children and grand children of tomorrow

 

The best one that always gets rolled out is the comparison between a train drivers salary and, you've guessed it, an NHS worker, nurse etc. Then the infighting starts, 'why should train drivers earn so much etc...' when in reality we should all be taking the lead from what the RMT is doing and thats fighting for a fair deal for workers regardless of what background they work in. Can't people see through absolute idiots like Shapps and his ilk?

 

I couldn’t agree more with both your posts.
I work at Openreach and we’ve just voted to go on strike.It was a 98.5% yes vote out of about 23,000 people who voted.
The company made £1.4 billion in profit.
The CEO was awarded a 32% rise in his remuneration package (£3.5 million a year) and the company paid out £760 million pounds in dividends this year.They’ve also raised prices by about 9 or 10% across all areas.
All employees agreed to no pay rise last year and the company ceased the potentially very profitable employee share option scheme due to covid having a massive impact on the company’s income.
This was despite the thousands of engineers who still enter customers premises each day working their normal hours and ensuring that vulnerable/at risk/elderly customers still had a phone service.
The company then decided this year,despite what everybody has put their selves through over the last 2 years to unilaterally award all employees a £1500 pay rise.
Whilst this may seem very generous it was used solely to divide the workforce as for a new starter it works out at 7% but for me who has worked their for 32 years it’s about 3%.
Even after the result of the ballot,the company have flatly refused to come back to the table with the union and strike action is now inevitable.
I love working for the company and am not in any rush to leave,but for them to line their own pockets while sat in their ivory towers while the man on the ground continues to put themselves at risk for the last 2 years seems a step too far.
I’m no militant but the “us and them” scenario has never seemed so obvious

 

Absolutely right. I believe that all public services that affect everyone and provide the basic needs of life should be run by the state. Gas, electricity, water, transport, health, education and other, often overlooked, areas like the met office and air traffic control come into that category. Everything else, things that people don't actually need but might like to have, can be privately run. The argument that nationalised industries are inefficient and the workers in them scroungers is simply put forward by those who wish to line their own pockets at the expense of all of us.

 

60 grand a year. Driverless trains next please and let the drivers see how good they had it. Tossers.

 

Take some time to look at what railway executives across the country are earning and their respective pay increases and how much owners of companies involved with the networks are getting. likewise with other national industries like water where 3 industry executives were paid £9million in pay and bonuses last year. Its not the ones on the front line we should be targeting, its the ones that are paid scandalous amounts at the top

 

even more critically, fares go up inline with inflation but wages don't.. wonder where that money is going...

Working people being played against each other classic tory play...

 

They’ll be working in the buffet car

 

Why don't they compare the salary of train driver to say, the salary and expenses of an MP? Because i know which one gives us greater value for money.

 

Spot on.

The list of failing/failed privatisations that have either had to be brought back in house (eg Bradford LEA/Serco) bailed out by the state (eg Olympics security) or are ongoing but providing appalling services (residential care homes, home care services, prison transport, railways, hospital cleaning) is enormous.

Providing public services (where the service quality is what matters) and private sector companies (where making profit is the primary object and the goods or services provided are simply a means to that end) are two entirely different and mutually incompatible things.

 

Driverless trains in the UK ….OK… Docklands Light Railway MAXIMUM possible is 62 mph but in daily operation they never go beyond 50mph. Absolutely retrograde step on main line high speed railways. I love it when people comment on things they know absolutely . nothing about. China / Japan the world leaders in high speed rail………Use drivers!

 

You might say that Dave, last 20 years mostly working as a senior manager on the railways, with a driver depot of 122 at one of my stations. Although not directly a “driver” responsibility I know exactly what they go through. Yes they can be “ militant” , in the sense they are a stickler for the rule book….It’s their and others safe operating bible, but anyone thinking it’s an easy job any man on the street can walk into are utterly ignorant of the facts. 75% of applicants fail the extremely onerous”test” procedure after applying. I wouldn’t do 24 hour shift work on my own covering 363 days a year for £100,000 a year ! It’s a serious occupation. Fairs fair to them.

 

Absolutely right. RT. I hope people don’t think my defence of train drivers is seen as somehow supporting industrial action of any type , I would and did when I was younger. ( Crofts 7 week strike in the 70’s) , and age mellows one , but when people say things that are deliberately untrue, indeed lies, it boils my brain. When you introduce “ whataboutism “ as the government like to deflect with, one gets a slanted version of reality, leading to ignorant misinformation.

 

Or not........as the case may be.

 

Be careful what you wish for

 

Well bloody said

 

Thats the one and folk fall for it hook line and sinker. Once shareholders are involved the whole thing becomes a profit at all costs, end users see their fares increased to eye watering levels, staff are squeezed to a point where their salaries go down with inflation and the owners and CEOs pocket lottery winning figures. Meanwhile the infrastructure falls to bits, well outside of London. I'd love to know how our transport infrastructure and utilities compare with other countries in Europe.

 

Name any rail company on the planet that isn’t subsidised by the tax payer or National Government ?

Clue . There isn’t one Park.

Why, All countries respect the need for transport links as being part and parcel of the essential economic well being.

When Governments realise it’s a public facility for public use as opposed to a tool for generating profit and its run properly then a state owned and funded railway does work. Yes it costs , but essential public services do cost taxpayers money.

 

The subsidies paid to the private companies have increased by 200% since privatisation.