Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Tube drivers and their pay

268 replies

Flashbangandgone · 09/07/2015 18:15

It makes me angry.... Surely tube drivers are paid far, far more than jobs with equivalent levels of responsibility, and they only get away with it because they can hold London to ransom... Do they have no shame!?

OP posts:
ChuffinAda · 09/07/2015 18:19

Tube drivers get paid stupid amounts and too right they should be expected to work shifts especially with the terms they've been offered which are far more generous than police or nurses who I'd argue deserve the terms far more than they do.

mintpoppet · 09/07/2015 18:21

Everyone has the right to strike

lostincumbria · 09/07/2015 18:36

17 weeks between weekends off seems fair? That's what one guy has been given as a rota. More people should be unionised and demanding good standards of pay and conditions.

Sickoffrozen · 09/07/2015 18:38

Bob Crow will have had a smile on his face up in the sky today!

ThisFenceIsComfy · 09/07/2015 18:39

The strike isn't really about pay, it's about unsociable rosters. Most drivers have said they don't want any money for night tube, just reasonably family-friendly, workable rosters than what was threatened to be imposed.

PresidentTwonk · 09/07/2015 18:40

My DH has never had a weekend off while in his job and never will. Lots of people don't, they also don't get bank holidays, Easter, Christmas etc. Before you become a train driver you must know it involves early starts, shifts, weekends etc if you don't want to do it, don't apply to be a train driver.

ThisFenceIsComfy · 09/07/2015 18:41

Well ok. Maybe your DH should look at joining a union. It's not a race to the bottom.

junowiththegladrags · 09/07/2015 18:43

Exactly ThisFence, we should have a levelling up attitude rather than being pissed that a group of workers get a good wage and strong union.

PresidentTwonk · 09/07/2015 18:43

He doesn't need to join a union, it's the nature of the job, he knew that before he started it. It's not illegal to work on Saturdays and Sunday's you know, many people do Hmm

Original poster
Flashbangandgone · 09/07/2015 18:44

They may or may not have points about conditions, but £48k standard is absurd.... And a price borne by every minimum wage Londoner who needs to use the tube. As a 'profession' (not as individuals) they are parasites.

OP posts:
Original poster
Flashbangandgone · 09/07/2015 18:47

Maybe if they were paid a fair rate for the job, TfL would be able to recruit more tube drivers to ease the pressure on unsociable shifts!

OP posts:
PresidentTwonk · 09/07/2015 18:47

I agree Flash

ChunkyPickle · 09/07/2015 18:48

It's not illegal, or unexpected to work Saturdays and Sundays, but I've been in jobs where the rotas were unfair and arbitrary. I've also been in jobs where I've happily worked every weekend (and bank holiday), as a volunteer, and that worked well, and jobs where I've volunteered to do that, but it's been refused (despite it being a sensible work around to get people who don't mind doing those shifts doing them, so people that do don't have to)

I don't know enough about the strike to know if I think it's fair, but they have a right to strike, and, tube drivers are paid as people that are responsible for hundreds of lives, buried deep below the ground under London - so I would hope they would get a fair whack.

AbbeyRoadCrossing · 09/07/2015 18:49

The thing you take a job (whatever that might be) after weighing up the pay and other terms and conditions and whether it works for you or not. I don't think an employer should then be able to just change them. I'm office based but if I was suddenly required to do night shifts it just wouldn't work for us and I'd have to quit.
I see a lot of 'teachers get too much pension', ' train drivers get too much pay' etc but those are they terms they signed up to, why should they later be withdrawn? It could well be your profession next so the right to strike is very important.

junowiththegladrags · 09/07/2015 18:49

You've lost me, you think the rate should be higher? For the parasitic profession?Hmm

Original poster
Flashbangandgone · 09/07/2015 18:54

Ok, let's pay them a teacher's salary, £35k in London? Still too much IMO but anyway, they'd be able to increase the number of drivers by 20% and still have enough left over to reduce ticket prices - a win-win surely!....

I'm not against them getting a decent wage - really - it's when they get paid double a nurse gets that grates...

OP posts:
FuzzyWizard · 09/07/2015 18:54

They are just about the last group of working class people in the country paid a living wage. Maybe if more of us unionised properly we'd all be better off with less of the wealth of the country accumulating in the hands of the chief execs.

BitchPeas · 09/07/2015 18:55

Everyone has the right to strike.

Everyone has the right to a good work/life balance.

When you go to work is there a chance someone will use you for means to commit suicide?

This whole frothing at the mouth over tube drivers is ridiculous.

Careers are a life choice that most people make, calling them parasites for choosing to do a job that earns them good money is childish and ignorant. Anyone can apply to join the underground, it's not some secret and elite group.

They are not even striking about salary and the night tube was not part of the job when they signed up for it. What about if they are single parents? Or have caring responsibiltes? Should they just suck it up??

CatMilkMan · 09/07/2015 18:55

This is off topic but earlier this week we told everyone that could work from home they should take Thursday and Friday off and we will reschedule all the meetings.
Every single person came in to work and many didn't need to.

Original poster
Flashbangandgone · 09/07/2015 18:57

Ok... School crossing patrols (lollipop ladies/men) are responsible for the safety of millions of children across the land every day!! Should they get £48k pro rata ?... They probably don't even get a third of that!

OP posts:
BitchPeas · 09/07/2015 18:58

And throwing in nurses/fire fighters/doctors is ridiculous too. They CHOOSE to be doctors and nurses. No one made them ffs. Of course they should get paid more, but that's nothing to do with what train drivers get paid or any other profession for that matter.

junowiththegladrags · 09/07/2015 18:59

I'm a nurse and only wish our unions would vote for strike action. I suppose it wouldn't take too long for the general public to decide it was parasitic if say we ended up getting paid more than some arbitrary amount.

ahbollocks · 09/07/2015 18:59

I think it seems like a godawful job. Darkness, heat, terrorist attacks

Beautifulhorizon · 09/07/2015 19:00

I think the pay and conditions of tube drivers is impressive in comparison to the likes of the police and nurses, who have also had significant changes to their contracts in recent times.

It goes to show what a strong union can do for you. It makes me wish that everyone had the chance to belong to similar unions. We shouldn't complain about tube staff getting a good deal we should be complaining about how bad it is for the rest of us.

Beautifulhorizon · 09/07/2015 19:04

'Everyone has the right to strike' - the police don't.