Rail industry preparing for national strikes

[DanNCL]

The reason it is such a large scale is the strength of feeling from Rail Staff including myself. Now the Gov needs to get around a table and start negotiating a fair and acceptable deal.

I'm not disputing that they need to get around the negotiating table. I'm simply saying that an all out strike in an essential service is not the right thing to do, all it does is alienate people, and ultimately those people indirectly pay the railway's staff wages.

 

[ANorthernGuard]

I work in a non unionised private sector company and I have all those benefits available to me

Fought for by the Unions

 

[Fokx]

The one pleasure that we have is to take a train to the coast or to see extended family

You’ve just had two years practice of not doing that, I’m sure you’ll survive one day a week without trains.

You’ll live (and develop other pleasures)

 

[Dai Corner]

Where is the poster who was adamant the signallers wouldn’t cross the threshold

Is there a breakdown showing how signallers voted?

 

[DanNCL]

You’ve just had two years practice of not doing that, I’m sure you’ll survive one day a week without trains.

You’ll live (and develop other pleasures)

Yes people will - they'll decide they prefer the alternative, never return to the railway again and there'll be mass redundancies on the railway as a result of demand being permanently down. Is that really what you want?

 

[Gems]

Yes people will - they'll decide they prefer the alternative, never return to the railway again and there'll be mass redundancies on the railway as a result of demand being permanently down. Is that really what you want?

Do you mean like two years ago when I had 10 people on my trains all shift. Umm, they came back, because in truth many have little choice. Have you seen the cost of petrol these days?

 

[ANorthernGuard]

Do you mean like two years ago when I had 10 people on my trains all shift. Umm, they came back, because in truth many have little choice. Have you seen the cost of petrol these days?

You got to Double Figures!! some days I didn't have that.

 

[theking]

Yes people will - they'll decide they prefer the alternative, never return to the railway again and there'll be mass redundancies on the railway as a result of demand being permanently down. Is that really what you want?

This is pure fantasy land thinking

 

[class ep-09]

Paul Clifton on the BBC was saying that unions should get used to below inflation deals much like the public sector and that the railways have done very well in pay deals since privatisation.

SWT/SWR guards pay has risen on average £1,000 per year every year since the year 2000. Not sustainable

TfL forklift driver on £47k Not sustainable.

My own opinion is that the nhs police teachers and councils should get more and the railways 2-3pc

We were told so many times that the current governement’s aim is to create high skills high wages economy .

Time to live to its promises .

 

[Moonshot]

Yes people will - they'll decide they prefer the alternative, never return to the railway again and there'll be mass redundancies on the railway as a result of demand being permanently down. Is that really what you want?

Really? I'm afraid you are somewhat misguided. Been plenty of rail strikes in the past..... passengers simply accept the reality and travel another way.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Really? I'm afraid you are somewhat misguided. Been plenty of rail strikes in the past..... passengers simply accept the reality and travel another way.

Freight would be more of a concern, if it moves to lorries it will stay there.

 

[Siemens Trains]

Yes people will - they'll decide they prefer the alternative, never return to the railway again and there'll be mass redundancies on the railway as a result of demand being permanently down. Is that really what you want?

If people really do prefer an alternative then surely it isn't bad. The railway shouldn't exist to force people into using a mode that doesn't align with their needs.

 

[Fokx]

I’m personally not surprised by the ballot in the slightest.

Moral amongst colleagues is at an all time low and I’ve never worked in an industry like it where every single member is annoyed, feeling undervalued and unappreciated by those who employ them. I can’t even recall getting a Christmas email of the top management this year and the employee appreciation board has been ripped down and replaced with notices

For the posters claiming it’s turkeys voting for Christmas, If conditions do get worse it won’t be an industry worth working in. I’m not here because I love trains, I’m here for the conditions, the pay, the progression and thats it.
Personally I’m not afraid to jump ship and I’ve already been on the fence about doing so. I love my job and the people I work with but it’s getting to the point where I’d happily take a paycut if it meant no commute, no coming to work at 11pm one week and 3am the next, and no forced overtime.

 

[Hellzapoppin]

Well I've been on strike and stood on picket lines and no one ever wins, in the end it'll be a compromise.
I might also suggest that people on here telling all the world that earning 50k isn't enough might want to keep that information to themselves. Every journalist will be trolling through forums like this one looking for stuff like that. Makes a good headline.

 

[OFFDN]

im in such a two minds about this. very much all for my rmt colleagues getting a pay rise given the events of the past 2 yrs and the cost of things at the moment, but i know a lot of my fellow management and admin operational grade staff who are not part of collective bargaining who are going to feel very put out if pay awards are agreed (not that that is the rmt or its members fault). sadly i cant see this leading to a National pay award across all roles or grades, but i feel like thats what is deserved.

i worry its only going to cause some friction internally between different grades n roles.

 

[Gems]

A Saturday strike would be nice. Far too many bellends out on a Saturday night for my liking, but I suppose somebody has to drive the trains.

 

[ANorthernGuard]

All Staff want is a negotiated compromise

 

[yorkie]

If people really do prefer an alternative then surely it isn't bad. The railway shouldn't exist to force people into using a mode that doesn't align with their needs.

The reality is the railways do not make themselves attractive to many people, much of the time. The culture of taking passengers for granted needs to stop.

i worry its only going to cause some friction internally between different grades n roles.

The RMT don't care about things like that; they are incredibly selfish and short sighted.

 

[Moonshot]

Mark my words there will NOT be strike vote for signallers, action short of maybe but definitely a NO to strike.

I did warn you.....and so did your colleagues. So .... signalling staff , guards, and drivers all strike on separate days. Each grade loses a day's pay, but the railway shuts down for 3 days. That's the likely reality. And it could well go on for a long time.

 

[Gems]

im in such a two minds about this. very much all for my rmt colleagues getting a pay rise given the events of the past 2 yrs and the cost of things at the moment, but i know a lot of my fellow management and admin operational grade staff who are not part of collective bargaining who are going to feel very put out if pay awards are agreed (not that that is the rmt or its members fault). sadly i cant see this leading to a National pay award across all roles or grades, but i feel like thats what is deserved.

i worry its only going to cause some friction internally between different grades n roles.

Maybe some could do what they did during the Northernrail guards strike and work the trains behind the guards backs.

 

[al78]

Hold the country to ransom? It's not as if everyone in the UK actually bothers with trains. Those that do will simply find an alternative way to travel , or work from home.

Could the roads into and around London cope if all the rail commuters who can't work from home have to drive into the city?

I can kind of see both sides here. I accept it is going to be tough for those that rely on rail for essential transport, and I can understand the anger (I'm glad I am driving to Scotland for my holiday next month and not travelling by rail), but on the other hand, why are they striking? People don't go on strike en-mass for the fun of it. Perhaps the anger should be directed at those who are responsible for provoking the rail staff into a mass strike. Attack the provocation, not the retaliation.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

The reason it is such a large scale is the strength of feeling from Rail Staff including myself. Now the Gov needs to get around a table and start negotiating a fair and acceptable deal.

I fear with this level of support RMT negotiators will want to gain a lot more now. DfT have really screwed up here by not moving earlier on an offer. Inflation next month will likely be 10% and nearer 12% on the RPI measure which govt don't like to use anymore so bar is just being set higher.

 

[ANorthernGuard]

Maybe some could do what they did during the Northernrail guards strike and work the trains behind the guards backs.

The Smiling Assasins

 

[Fokx]

Yes people will - they'll decide they prefer the alternative, never return to the railway again and there'll be mass redundancies on the railway as a result of demand being permanently down. Is that really what you want?

They’ll be back.
Regardless of this fantasy where passengers leave in droves, they come back as they don’t have a choice. People don’t use the train because they want to, they use it because they have to and it’s quite often the most time saving and efficient way to travel across the UK, wether it’s one stop or twenty

Even the hypothetical man who buys a car for his commute, will still return to the train as soon as his car is in for repair or as soon as he wants to go to see a football game or have a night on the town.

 

[wagnaga]

I did warn you.....and so did your colleagues. So .... signalling staff , guards, and drivers all strike on separate days. Each grade loses a day's pay, but the railway shuts down for 3 days. That's the likely reality. And it could well go on for a long time.

If each strike on a different day but with a days gap between each would that cause the maximum disruption at minimum loss in pay?

 

[A0wen]

I really couldn’t care less where it comes from. I find the idea that there’s no money to reward people like myself who continued to work throughout the pandemic when millions were being paid to sit about on their backsides, only now to be told “there’s no money”, utterly offensive to be honest.

How about:

- claw back some of the £5bn that has been written off after being fraudulently claimed in Covid support;
- create an additional tax rate for those who received furlough assistance from the government
- simply borrow some more money! A little more will make hardly any difference in the grand scheme of things.

As I keep asking, where is the money to fund a pay rise for 1m+ NHS staff coming from?

Bit in bold - AIUI the decision to "write off" that was an HMRC one, but there has to be a balance. If the cost of trying to claw that back is more than it will recover, then what's the point? It's the kind of decision that HMRC take day in day out - I don't for a minute believe they choose to write amounts off lightly, but they do have to act in the public interest.

 

[ComUtoR]

A Saturday strike would be nice. Far too many bellends out on a Saturday night for my liking, but I suppose somebody has to drive the trains.

Signallers on Monday
PWay on Tuesday
Drivers on Wednesday
Guards on Thursday
Platform Staff on Friday
ECO on Saturday

Nobody works on Sundays anyway.

 

[Bow Fell]

Has nothing to do with being inconvenient and everything to do with an essential service shutting down. Hospitals aren't allowed to shut under a strike, nor is any other "essential" service, so why should the railway be any different.


If it was just one or two operators yes, and obviously they should be going to the negotiating table regardless. When it's on such a large scale the public interest needs to be put first, or people will quit travelling by train en masse for good.

So which one is it, if the railway is so essential, it should be treated like it is, but I’ve never felt so undervalued, over the past 2 years.

The railway is recovering? Definitely, but you would never know that, when you look at my local line, the train service is no better than it was during Covid, and as someone that works on the railway and uses it for leisure, it’s driven me away from using the services, in all honesty, unless I really have to.

Of course I support the strike action, but it’s disappointing it’s got to this, I don’t want to see mass walkouts and the railway being brought to a standstill, I have immense pride in my job, and for me the past 2 years, have been some of the hardest, I remember being scared to go to work at one point, not for my own health but for the health of my family.

If the ballot had been action short of a strike, no OT/no RDW especially on the NR, then there may as well be a strike anyway, the train service would be decimated in places, given how heavily reliant TOC’s/NR are on it!

 

[Kite159]

At least Lynch is giving the govt an opportunity here to avoid action

Yes

Shame his options seems to be give us a 15% pay rise or else. Hopefully the government won't give in, as they will be back next year wanting another 15%+.

Looks like leisure passengers will simply change plans not to use the trains to go on holiday/day trips, or simply not go out due to the costs of living decreasing their spare cash. Freight will switch to using road transport instead of going via rail, might cost more but will be more direct. The RMT has fallen into Boris's large trap he set.

Commuters will go back to working from home if they are in jobs which can be worked from home, the hardest hit will be those working in areas which can't be done at home. Cleaning, retail etc, the sort which probably can't afford to take too many days off unpaid if they can't get into work.

 

[43066]

But the idea of just borrowing a bit more, multiplied no doubt across every industry that demands it, isn't really sustainable or affordable.

I’d agree with that in normal circumstances - but these are hardly that. There is a strong moral case for borrowing a little more - a drop in the ocean in relative terms - and rewarding those who have continued working throughout. Many of whom are low earners who have not had a pay rise for years.

The reality is that many rail industry roles pay more, and in some cases very considerably more, than jobs which could potentially be seen as indirectly comparable in terms of what alternative roles people may be suited for or be able to obtain in other industries.

I’m not sure that’s necessarily borne out by reality, especially for the grades the RMT represents. There aren’t many transferrable skills gained through railway work, but again that’s true in many other specialist industries.