To think tube drivers are overpaid as most earn 60-70k and get free travel

[nickiredcar]

Surely they are only paid so much because they run a monopoly and people have no choice. I think it's an argument against unions. Considering lots are semi automatic it does seem too high that they are now out earning pilots.

Apparently they are striking because one of their drivers was sacked for failing drugs tests at work three times

Daisy03, the TfL statement said that the pay of the 3000 odd between £60-70k included "base pay, overtime, employer pension contributions and certain allowances", but I'm guessing that the pension contributions on their own push it above the £60k mark anyway.

Clearly waggling a handle and a few buttons whilst sat on your arse on a tube train isnt worth £50k pa basic but thanks to the RMT, thats what they get paid and good luck to them. Other unions seem content to allow their members to be exploited by their employers and be part of the race to the bottom.

tentative3:
start with health and safety.

Anyone that's pissed off by the disruption caused by an over paid job with too much power must be jelous

They should stop making it a closed shop and allow the wages to reach a natural level rather than their practices that artificially prop them high. They won't and in a decade none will have a job as they hasten up their own decline.

I used to love the tube strikes meant I couldn't get to work!
On the other side of the coin if you work in care as a nurse or doctor etc I can see the strikes would be a pain in the backside.

Completely irrelevant but every tube driver I've ever seen looks thoroughly miserable when driving! Apart from the one on the Northern Line at High Barnet who was an absolute legend and used to sing "please miiind the doors".

Either way I have no issue if that is a tube drivers wage, good for them I say!

That's what they earn and fair enough; if you're lucky enough to land a job where pushing a button and opening some doors earns you 50k a year then bully for you.

The strikes are taking the piss though.
How anyone can demand (with a straight face) that a driver who failed a drugs test deserves his job to be reinstated is beyond me.
I don't care if it was within the 'legal' amount or whatever bullshit excuse they come up with - you failed a drugs test! That's it, game over!
The last strike was because a driver opened the doors in a tunnel, how can that be defended?!

That irritates me more than the amount they earn

@Clavinova 50 people do not commit suicide in the underground each week... the trains would never run!!!

It's because they can hold the city to ransom until they get what they want (which included a £500 bonus during the Olympics in 2012 - their job was no different, they just striked until bosses relented).

I thought it was a closed shop in that they never advertise externally? So you need to do your time as station staff etc. Before you get the high paid, loads of holiday gig.

I support many hard working, over utilised public servants who exercise their right to strike but not tube drivers. They're the fat cats of the unionised world.

@Ated you expect drivers to be qualified in health and safety? OK... I mean, you're obviously entitled to your own opinion, but why? There are roles within the rail industry that require health and safety qualifications because the job role is health and safety based.

Objectively drivers aren't under qualified since they all have the qualifications required or, you know, they wouldn't be doing the job.

Once again. The pay for a driver is 55k. No shift allowance and the only overtime we get is when we’re running late. No voluntary overtime allowed.
The driver who failed the drugs test wasn’t high, there was hemp oil in a protein drink which gave the reading. Nobody would go on strike and lose pay to defend a driver who was on drugs while at work.

How many tube drivers are there? As a born & bred Londoner of course the strikes annoy me but loads of other things annoy me about the tube, I remember when I could get a seat on the Northern line. I use the tube way more than any other transport & thinks it good value. For a few months I had the pleasure of using Southern trains, that was horrific!

think I will apply to be a tube driver , nice package for a semi skilled job

@Longdistance I don't really understand the LLW... I earn the minimum and would love the living wage... but it's not enforced to what's the point?

@nickiredcar shaaat up! You talking a load of old pony! How many bus drivers and pilots do you know have people throwing them selves underneath their vehicles/Boeing airbuses? Train drivers work hard, work shifts, get us from A to B and need to be alert. If you personally want to earn more money while begrudging others from doing so... train to be train driver!

The tube driver failed the drugs test three times due to a hemp drink, that sounds likley...

Not just that they want to choose a nice time around Christmas to have a day off, that's exactly how they often think.

The suicides is such a non point. Would have to work over 70 years to get one happen to them on average. And even then they would see a tiny fraction of what a paramedic sees daily and they start on band 5 - 23-29k.

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Still looks pretty gold plated to me

@nickiredcar The suicides is such a non point. Would have to work over 70 years to get one

What about the ones who don't have 70 yr suicide free career? A very dear friend of mine committed suicide this way 30 yrs ago and at her inquest the train driver was clearly traumatised and never recovered, along with the rest of us.

Three drug tests failed for the same instance. Not three seperate occasions. The tests were within days/weeks and cannabis stays in the system for ages. Please stop stating things as fact when you have no clue

I don't have a problem with it at all. Good for them. I'd love to do something like that, I don't think I'd be eligible unfortunately.

However, I wouldn't live in London. If they opened something similar near here I'd look into it and find out.

Can’t believe people are on this thread advocating in favour of having low paid pilots. Just wow.

@FannyFanackerpants71 you've quoted part of my post out of context, the point I was making is many jobs have do deal with deaths and difficult circumstances and are paid way less.

Link for the drugs test? Was said on LBC they were weeks apart and highly unlikely to be accidental from a drink. But if it is unfair dismissal take it to a tribunal, don't shut down the tube line.

No one here has said everyone should be low paid, quite the opposite.

@nickiredcar a train driver doesn't also necessarily take on that role with a view to seeing death and /or injury on daily basis or even once in a life time basis. A paramedic is specifically trained to deal with life threatening situations every day and support is in place to support our emergency services after the event and quite rightly. I take my hat off to the work the emergency services do and I agree they are not paid accordingly nor does their pay reflect their skill and heroism and I am specifically referring to police, Ambulance and fire crews. However, your comment about '70yrs'has to be one of the most ill judged, uneducated,tactless, thoughtless,irresponsible and quite frankly in poor taste comments I have even read in my entire life. Perhaps make
a point and speak to a train driver who has unfortunately and sadly had a mentally ill person jump under their train and then come back and tell us what you think.

I’m glad tube drivers are paid well. I couldn’t do it.

Thanks for at least replying to my point, maybe tube drivers should get specialist training like paramedics if suicides is such a big part of the reason why they get paid so much? I'd be surprised if they don't already.

The 70 years is just a statistical fact, in response to the poster who claims her DH gets 2-3 each year every year.