This dispute is largely about pay parity for Sunday working. I am not sure how a professional that doesn't work Sundays is comparable. If your union isn't strong enough to stand up to the government maybe you should do something about it?
The railway often gets compared to other public sector workers such as the NHS. It should be noted that NHS staff get unsocial hours payments. These also includes payments for working after 8pm on weekdays and working Saturdays at at least 30% extra. Sundays at least 60% extra. I am sure TPE conductors would take this over payment for scans.
A significant proportion of a conductors take home pay at TPE was made from onboard ticket sales. Up until a few years ago passengers could legitimately buy on board (at full anytime rate) without risk of penalty fares or prosecution. The penalty fares scheme has taken that away from them, so many have seen a fall in income for doing the same amount of work, whilst 3rd party company's such as the Trainline have been taking that commission. Many conductors are on a lower actual take home pay for the same hours than 3 years ago.
The railway gets unsociable allowances too. These are done in a whole range of different ways. Sometimes it's a one-off payment, sometimes its rolled in as a % of your base salary as an "unsociaL hours" payment, and sometimes its the specific bits (e.g nights & Sundays). Sometimes the overall salary takes this into account and the base would be lower without
I've worked with Sundays inside, Sundays committed and Sundays outside and in a few roles I haven't been required to work Sundays (and no I'm not crew now, but I work with them). To me it's made no major difference; I understand I am a shift-worker in an public service industry for which working Sundays are important. Maybe that's just me and my personal mentality but I think it is only right. I think many staff have it compratively well-off and don't realise how good it is, so I find these discussions a bit grating. I am rostered to work them and yes occasionally I have missed social events or time with friends/family. Or I swap them out in good time where possible. It is the nature of the beast - if you don't want to do that in my eyes you take a different role, but you'll get the resultant pay cut too, there are swings and roundabouts. There needs to be reasonable compromise.
I don't doubt that with inflation reaching the heights that it is, that actually some sort of pay rises should be on the cards as a matter of general fairness but I just think it will be an incredibly hard sell considering how many £bn has been spent on the railway the past few years and how no franchises TOCs were required to furlough staff. To emphasise how much that cost, look at what happened to the OA operators - they pretty much compltely stopped providing a service at all during the lockdowns.
There are large numbers of drivers in the UK that are ex-BR and are approaching retirement age that will be leaving in large numbers over the next few years, those are the sort of people who would not return to work in fire and rehire practices.
Likewise on the opposite scale of the spectrum I’m fairly young in my late twenties with a fairly recent degree in marketing, and an employment background in management and HR. The railway isn’t my only employment option, and if pushed to poor working conditions I certainly wouldn’t be staying.
Interesting perspective. I've met and spoken to a number of new starters (anecdotal warning!) in recent months many of whom are in their 20s and 30s who can't believe how good it is outside their previous industries which include healthcare, retail and other transport (buses/airlines), many of which had no choice in the matter of Sundays.
The stunning amount of applications the railway recieves for roles like drivers (and indeed junior roles too, albeit to a lesser extent) shows that it is still an attractive industry. Personally - although I wouldn't want it too - I could see T&Cs getting moderatetly worse and it still being a very attractive option for many and TOCs still sifting through quality applicatons.
