Do you sympathise with the strikers?

[TheDoveFromAboveCooCoo]

I'm afraid it's a no from me.

We are in West Yorkshire and we are just entering week 3 of a full bus drivers strike from one of the operators.

It's costing £75 a week in taxis to get my daughter to and from school. It's 6 miles away so too far to walk and I'm disabled and can't drive.

For my eldest daughter to visit her girlfriend it should be a 15 minute bus journey. Now it's a bus to Bradford Centre, then another one to Leeds, then another to her town.

My husband works in a minimum wage job and some of his colleagues who cannot drive are having to take unpaid leave as they can't afford taxis to get them to work and back.

I'm pretty frustrated and wish they would just bloody agree on something!!

Interested to hear other peoples thoughts and opinions especially with all these other potential strikes coming up.

Be careful what you wish for.

If you haven't noticed with the airline industry people did go and get other jobs. They won't come back as the airlines and airports took it as a chance to cut wages. The result is that lots of flights have been cancelled at short notice as there is no cabin crew. People can't get their bags as there are no baggage handlers.

@RumpoleoftheBaileys I'm amazed that the barristers’ strike is barely in the news.
Criminal barristers pay was bad enough when I did my training contract in 2004/5. I still bump into the solicitor I did my crime seat with and he can’t get any decent criminal solicitors.

No. They're on good money. I think they're being bloody greedy tbh.

Getting a 😂 a day so far.....

Yes, I supported the miners &other strikers over the years & been on strike myself. It's funny but the main strikes over the last 40 years have only been when the Tories have been in power. Everyone should have the right to be in a union & to strike if needed. If the government would have consented to meet with the unions all this could have been avoided.

RedWingBoots
there is a big difference between baggage handlers on min wage than the rail staff

Incorrect. There were strikes under Blair and Brown.

Fire Brigade and postal strikes, at least, off the top of my head.

No job losses at all! They are deluded and totally selfish.

I remember the miners demanding 35% pay increase. And that went well didn’t it?

They've said no compulsory job losses. It's possible to reduce jobs by voluntary redundancy (probably worth a lot to many people ) and natural wastage ie not replacing people when they leave. I can't argue with that, I've gone on strike over compulsory job losses in the past. In industries where people work for many years for the same place it's not on, frankly.

I'm supportive of them in general

I hope all those not supporting the strike have a plan for when their employers start looking at how to save costs ( which, no doubt, many companies will do), because the 1st thing the bosses will look at is how to cut the wage bill. Especially those who were working from home over the last 2 years. Why pay your wage when the job could be done cheaper from overseas. It's not like they couldn't manage without you in the office ,the pandemic proved that.

Lots of people go through this regularly, whether they like it or not, in the private sector.

Have you never heard of retail, motor industry, BT , call centres, etc etc redundancies.

Not only do I sympathise with the strikers, I sympathise MORE with teachers, teaching assistants, carers and nurses who I wish would join them on strike. Bring the government down and get them paid fairly.

We can't hold on to teachers and teaching assistants ... you can make more at Tesco if you're a teaching assistant, even a very, very experienced one.

You don't say.🙄

How about some of the 500 odd billionaires that have been created since 2018?

How’s that line of thinking working out for the airlines?

It is the obvious solution.🤷‍♀️ The idea that low and medium earners should have to pay is ridiculous.🤯

The money is going somewhere, so the benefactors should have to bear some of the costs.

Or simply by reducing the huge profit some of those companies are making (same with water companies etc.. too btw)

People should have the right to go on strike.
Govt is deluded if they think they can control inflation.

I'm impressed at Rolls Royce quietly giving large payments to its less well-paid staff.

Yes. The only power workers have is to withhold their labour.

I stand with the strikers

People should have the right to quit if they don't like the pay or the conditions. Why should they be able to keep the employer hostage?

Because it’s not always just about wages. Sometimes it’s about things which keep staff safe, customers/clients/other users safe or even benefit both. It might be about equal rights….
If people just left, then those things never get addressed.

Yes, fully support them and people need to wake up and realise who the real enemy is - not striking workers!

Yes they would, when the employer found they couldn't get other workers.

The 'real enemy' are the laws which allow strikers to bring misery upon the people. There should be no right to strike or any of the like. You have the right to leave and find another job and that's it.