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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

444 replies

nickiredcar · 17/12/2018 10:04

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 Confused

OP posts:
VeggyGravy · 17/12/2018 10:39

Any job where I am likely to be in the drivers seat when a suicidal person throws themselves in front of me deserves a decent pay wage.

ThanosSavedMe · 17/12/2018 10:40

Quite like the sound of being a tube driver!

abacucat · 17/12/2018 10:40

It is because they have very strong unions, which is a good thing. Nothing to do with level of responsibility, there are very responsible jobs that are much lower paid.
The person saying you could apply if you want - getting a tube drivers job is very very difficult. I would take the job tomorrow if I could get it.

brizzledrizzle · 17/12/2018 10:40

It’s not a high wage for London.

How on earth is 60-70k not a high wage?! Take home that is around £900 a week assuming 70k.

easyandy101 · 17/12/2018 10:42

Imagine being upset that someone does okay

Grin
WilburforceRaven · 17/12/2018 10:43

YABVU

abacucat · 17/12/2018 10:45

And of course it is a high wage for London. Plenty of very responsible jobs in London like ambulance drivers are very low paid, because their unions have been decimated. It is to do with strong unions, nothing else.

Clavinova · 17/12/2018 10:45

Around 50 people a week commit suicide on the London Underground (2012 figures).

morningtoncrescent62 · 17/12/2018 10:46

I don't think tube drivers are paid too much for what they do. It must be a horrible job - having to concentrate all day on something very boring and repetitive, spending hours in isolation and darkness. And of course they either have to live in London which is prohibitively expensive, or have a long and expensive commute. The fact that they get a decent salary is surely an advert for unions. If only other occupations were as strongly unionised they would be able to win better pay for their members - because of course tube drivers are by no means the only people who have to live in a capital city priced beyond the means of most working people. A race to the bottom helps no-one, and I hope their current industrial action is successful.

Original poster
nickiredcar · 17/12/2018 10:46

A week? I bet that's 50 a year.

It's the uniqueness of the job more than the union.

OP posts:
ViragoKnows · 17/12/2018 10:47

But it's not the power of the union, bus drivers have a union and arguably aharder job but get less pay.

Make your mind up. Earlier you nlames the unions.

Original poster
nickiredcar · 17/12/2018 10:48

You hope their industrial action to get back the job of someone that was high at work is successful Confused

OP posts:
Tiscold · 17/12/2018 10:49

Being a tube driver is harder then a bus driver.

They're the lone person responsible for 100s of lives in underground tunnels. They're the first response to terror attacks, the train breaking down, faults on the line. Because it can take a damn long time to get people to them.

They deal with suicidal people jumping in front of them on a regular occurance.

Instead of complaining they're overpaid and have it too good, congratulate them on being such a strong headed workforce and strive for that yourself.

ShalomJackie · 17/12/2018 10:50

Pilots do not get paid less Grin

ViragoKnows · 17/12/2018 10:51

How on earth is 60-70k not a high wage?! Take home that is around £900 a week assuming 70k.

Which isn't astronomical.

It attracts a lot of snobbery because it’s a semi-manual job that attracts mainly working class entrants. But it’s a very responsible and skilled job, with a high risk of trauma (“one unders”) and the tube is essential to London. Less that £1000 net a week isnt ridiculous money for that.

merrymouse · 17/12/2018 10:51

I agree that I am far more concerned that people in other jobs, particularly those dominated by women (teachers, nurses) are paid so much less.

KeepingEveryoneSafe · 17/12/2018 10:51

I live just outside London and I'm now thinking I want to be a tube driver 🚆

SaucyJack · 17/12/2018 10:52

“How on earth is 60-70k not a high wage?! Take home that is around £900 a week assuming 70k.”

I meant in relation to the cost of living in London. £84,000 is the average income needed for first-time buyers.

I’m sure nobody really wants to live in a world where somebody doing a full-time skilled job can’t even buy a flat.

Original poster
nickiredcar · 17/12/2018 10:52

Thats a matter of opinion if it's harder than a bus driver.

5 tube lines are automatic, bus drivers have to deal with aggravated passengers and problems on the bus. It's all 6 of one half a dozen of another.

OP posts:
BobLemon · 17/12/2018 10:52

U ok Hun?

merrymouse · 17/12/2018 10:52

The scandal is not that a tube driver is paid more than a nurse but that a nurse isn't paid as much as a tube driver.

jay55 · 17/12/2018 10:52

I think they have over done the strikes. Striking for a colleague who was fired for failing a drugs test is totally out of order and has lost them public sympathy.

Where striking due to the staffing changes in stations or the new overnight shifts on weekends were more understandable (but not that different to what many other workers are going through who don't hold the city to ransom).

ViragoKnows · 17/12/2018 10:53

Nonsense.

Clavinova · 17/12/2018 10:53

A week? I bet that's 50 a year
Oops - posted in haste - 50 per year killed - many more attempts though.

brizzledrizzle · 17/12/2018 10:53

But it’s a very responsible and skilled job, with a high risk of trauma (“one unders”) and the tube is essential to London. Less that £1000 net a week isnt ridiculous money for that.

It's not ridiculous, no - I didn't say it was, I said it was a high wage and it is. £900 a week is more than some essential public sector jobs earn in a month.