Rail strikes discussion

[dk1]

In reality Commission is long gone. Most Guards I know are earning £400 less as etickets etc. have taken over.

Oh I don’t know. Some of ours can still take well over £1000 a day which is a lovely little bonus each month. Plenty are still very keen.

 

[gimmea50anyday]

In reality Commission is long gone. Most Guards I know are earning £400 less as etickets etc. have taken over.

which is one reason why TPE conductors want payments for scanning. It was offered as part of productivity two years ago so why is it such a sore subject now? If anything it would encourage more comsistent ticket checking

 

[ANorthernGuard]

Oh I don’t know. Some of ours can still take well over £1000 a day which is a lovely little bonus each month. Plenty are still very keen.

The most I have takin in a day since Covid is £300 before Covid and E-Tickets that sum would easily be over 1k

 

[gimmea50anyday]

Likewise stations such as Yarm and Seamer were always good earners for TPE crews, however like you say since the advent of eTickets these have virtually dried up.

 

[jayah]

IYou can't argue that maintenance is unproductive and therefore needs to be cut if you made them much less productive due to safety requirements which they have. For NR to blame maintenance for this is farcical.

You have spectacularly missed the point here. You think safety is proportional to the number of people you pay walking around looking for defects.

Tech is much more efficient, more productive and safer at doing many things.

The unions oppose tech because it means fewer, better paid jobs.

NR are full of ideas about how it can be more productive and a certain union oppose productivity and change.

 

[dk1]

The most I have takin in a day since Covid is £300 before Covid and E-Tickets that sum would easily be over 1k

We have some busy local routes in East Anglia with very few booking offices. Lines like the East Suffolk & Sheringham can be particularly rewarding.

 

[baz962]

God only knows what you've been splashing the cash on throughout your life if you've managed a pension pot worth £40k a year, but didn't bother playing a mortgage!

Well let me tell you my case. Although my pension will be around 17 to 20k , as I started as a driver at age of 48. Bought a flat with my then pregnant girlfriend. We don't last and she absolutely screws me financially. I meet someone else and have a second son with her. She doesn't screw me ( on practically min wage back then) . But we have to sell the house and the little equity paid off some debt. I work several different not very well paid jobs, while getting absolutely screwed for child support and I mean literally screwed corruptly by the CSA . The CSA were overcharging me for years and it's the one government dept that you can't beat in court. I get more in debt and finally finished Child support two years ago at age 50. I pay rent and plus bills plus some debt and I could probably afford to pay a mortgage , although high payments over not many years left. However with some debt left and a low credit rating, it will take me at least another two years to get a deposit together. So it's not always about splashing the cash as you put it.

 

[jayah]

In the major European countries, how is Sunday seen as part of the normal working week in the rail industry?

In many European countries the Sunday timetable is scarcely different to the weekday one.

The most I have takin in a day since Covid is £300 before Covid and E-Tickets that sum would easily be over 1k

How many times would the Guard not have gone through and they would have travelled free? Or queued up for ages at a gate to buy an excess fare.

Once again, the RMT have confused a bad thing, with a good thing.

which is one reason why TPE conductors want payments for scanning. It was offered as part of productivity two years ago so why is it such a sore subject now? If anything it would encourage more comsistent ticket checking

Aren't they paid to check tickets already? They will want £15/word for train announcements next.

 

[dk1]

Just looked up Mick Lynch with (the ever useless) Kay Burley, and it's comedy gold

Great to see after years of those RMT press releases!

Wasn’t that just wonderful? Even Martin Lewis tweeted that the only one getting flustered is you Kay.

 

[theageofthetra]

The problem begins with people who criticise others but don't walk in their shoes.
It continues with people low down the ladder kicking those a rung lower. And the biscuit is taken by those who were happy to sit at home being paid whilst others put their health at risk. All that hand clapping and pan banging is a bit hollow now isn't it.

Was at the time too. Saw it for the sanctimonious garbage it was and ignored.

 

[Edsmith]

Why not throw all the "right-wing newspapers" on to a big bonfire while you're at it...

How many people actually buy newspapers nowadays, right wing or otherwise?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

How many people actually buy newspapers nowadays, right wing or otherwise?

A well-made point, but that does not stop countless references being made to them over the years on this website.

 

[Ivor]

How many people actually buy newspapers nowadays, right wing or otherwise?

Too many free Metro newspapers on the railway & bus network.

 

[Iskra]

Ticket offices are the shop window of the railway and their closure would be a bad thing. However, I suppose it's easier than dealing with structural issues such as train leasing costs.

I disagree. The internet, booking engines and appa are the shop window for the vast majority and that will only increase.

 

[Starmill]

which is one reason why TPE conductors want payments for scanning. It was offered as part of productivity two years ago so why is it such a sore subject now? If anything it would encourage more comsistent ticket checking

It was offered as part of a package which if you recall was rejected by the membership. Any package on the table now will of necessity be slightly less generous than the one which was rejected. This is simply how negotiation works.

 

[Fokx]

It was offered as part of a package which if you recall was rejected by the membership. Any package on the table now will of necessity be slightly less generous than the one which was rejected. This is simply how negotiation works.

Rejected due to an increase in hours and Sunday being brought into the working week. The issue with that was than Covid-19 happened and the negotiations completely stopped.

So now there is no ticket scanning payments but there’s also no overtime, no rest days and a Sunday crew shortage

 

[theageofthetra]

Is it?

Try telling the large number of my colleagues who are off with Long Covid and/or MH issues that have come about from working at the sharp end of the pandemic that it's "history now".

Exactly and paying for those who's industry's were totally unaffected to sit on their backsides at home.

 

[Fokx]

Aren't they paid to check tickets already? They will want £15/word for train announcements next.

Yes, but it’s not the highest of priorities on the to do list.

A conductor might check tickets on a route once, but if they get paid (like northern) to scan them, it encourages them to do so more frequently. A huge benefit to the company preventing ticket fraud, and a huge amount of data collection for the company worth its gold in both marketing and passenger statistics.

 

[Falcon1200]

Sitting at home shouldn't be an option for people who can work. That in my opinion also applies to healthy pensioners.

I agreed with all you said.... until that last sentence. Maybe I have misunderstood, surely you don't mean that healthy pensioners should be made to continue working; Until when, they are too infirm to continue ?

 

[Shrop]

This thread is certainly lively, well over 3000 posts in just 10 days! (Okay, that's the geek in me, probably nobody else either notices nor cares about this fact ).

 

[Ivor]

I agreed with all you said.... until that last sentence. Maybe I have misunderstood, surely you don't mean that healthy pensioners should be made to continue working; Until when, they are too infirm to continue ?

Many on that route now unfortunately

 

[SCDR_WMR]

This doesn't bode well for ticket price increases for 2023.

Ticket prices will pretty much be already baked in I'd imagine, just not announced. Expect around 10%

 

[dk1]

Ticket prices will pretty much be already baked in I'd imagine, just not announced. Expect around 10%

The news channels will self destruct with excitement lol

 

[ar10642]

God only knows what you've been splashing the cash on throughout your life if you've managed a pension pot worth £40k a year, but didn't bother playing a mortgage!

In my case I earn a good wage now but I made financial mistakes in the past and have debts+bad credit. So whilst I can afford rent which is probably more than a mortgage would be, nobody will give me a mortgage. As I'm now 42 it's probably too late for me so I'll likely be renting and therefore working into my old age.

I won't have a pension of £40k a year though, god knows how much you'd have to put aside to get that on a normal pension. Mine are almost worthless.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I agreed with all you said.... until that last sentence. Maybe I have misunderstood, surely you don't mean that healthy pensioners should be made to continue working; Until when, they are too infirm to continue ?

Quite so. What have "healthy pensioners" got to do with a thread about discussion on rail strikes. Suggest you approach Mick Lynch and put that point to him about RMT staff who have retired having reached pensionable age and see what response you will get.

 

[jayah]

Yes, but it’s not the highest of priorities on the to do list.

A conductor might check tickets on a route once, but if they get paid (like northern) to scan them, it encourages them to do so more frequently. A huge benefit to the company preventing ticket fraud, and a huge amount of data collection for the company worth its gold in both marketing and passenger statistics.

Protecting and collecting revenue isn't a very high priority? What exactly is their job?

Do they not realise collecting revenue is integral to the company having money to pay them or are they completely detached from reality?

Would the RMT really want minimum wage plus piece rate?

The news channels will self destruct with excitement lol

Whatever the fare rise, the same unions will be condemn fares increasing to pay their members, as they have done for the past 20yrs.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

You have spectacularly missed the point here. You think safety is proportional to the number of people you pay walking around looking for defects.

Tech is much more efficient, more productive and safer at doing many things.

The unions oppose tech because it means fewer, better paid jobs.

NR are full of ideas about how it can be more productive and a certain union oppose productivity and change.

NR have deployed huge amounts of tech and RMT cooperated with changes to mtce organisation years ago when the track measuring was substantially automated. Also condition monitoring has been effectively deployed across the network and helps with warning against potential failures. In all of it though you still need somebody to go there and either prevent a failure by intervention or deal with a failure when it occurs. NR's productivity revolution isn't about technology its changing employees T&Cs so they have to work when NR needs them to ie nights and weekends. Actually much of this happens now but staff get paid enhancements to volunteer for those shifts but they aren't proposing to consolidate all that in the staff wages and expecting workers to both just accept those changes and potentially be made redundant - can't see many people accepting that.

 

[dk1]

Whatever the fare rise, the same unions will be condemn fares increasing to pay their members, as they have done for the past 20yrs.

As its pro-rata I don’t think their members will complain about the increased commission payment.

 

[TwoYellas]

The best question to Mr Lynch (comedy value wise, in my opinion) was when GMB Richard asked him if he is a Marxist or not because if he is; he wants to bring down capitalism and is into revolution!

Laughing my head off!

What twaddle!

 

[Fokx]

Protecting and collecting revenue isn't a very high priority? What exactly is their job?

You’re confusing a conductor with that of a Revenue Inspector.

The conductor role consists mainly of the following in order of importance:
- Passenger Safety, Dispatch and PTI risks
- Reliability of services and timetable
- Customer service
- Revenue Collection

There’s naturally much more to the role but I’ve simplified it here