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

So Local Authority pensions you pay large contributions and can only get the pension at state retirement age. To get it before they will be significant actuarial reductions. And you can not cash it in. I would not join a local authority pension scheme now. There are no other benefits except for senior managers. Not even tea and coffee provided.

ChesneyHawkes You are changing the goalposts. Yes anyone can apply to be a train driver. THIS THREAD IS NOT ABOUT TRAIN DRIVERS. And they are often paid far less than tube drivers.

Are they? How much is far less?

You can only apply to be a London tube driver internally. NO-ONE can apply externally. They are the rules.

tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transparency/freedom-of-information/foi-request-detail?referenceId=FOI-0201-1819

You sure about that @abacucat?

This is what I read

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40480766

Whether or not teachers, nurses, police officers are earning 'a very good wage' depends entirely on the circumstances.

Most with some experience will probably earn £30-40k taking into account shift allowances where relevant, high cost area supplements etc. It's certainly not a lot for the type of job, especially police, nurses, fire brigade etc, with danger, shifts and the cost of living in some areas. Many seemingly easy PA type roles will pay the same sort of wage.

However in low cost areas, these types of public sector professionals will be amongst the higher earners and to most people in office, factory, retail, care work type jobs, they will look to be quite well paid, and earning wages that will allow them to buy property quite easily and have a decent level of disposable income.

Okay that seems like a specific campaign. I actually contacted them 2 years ago and was told at the time that all jobs were internally advertised only.

abacucat I pay 6% so not too bad & a better package than any private company i’ve worked has offered. Im a millennial, I won’t be able to retire as I’ll have spent too much on coffees & avocado 😜

We don't get paid less at all where I work. Our basic is probably higher.

And yes my friend became a tube driver externally. But apparently I was lying about that 🤷🏽‍♀️

Well @abacucat night tube jobs have been being advertised externally for nearly 2 years now, and I infer from the opening post in this thread that they were prior to that, too.

www.railforums.co.uk/threads/lu-night-tube-train-operator-part-time.144303/

Also, you didn't reply about how much less train drivers earn.

Sorry BarbaraofSevillle i should have said 60k+ & we are in London.

I'm a Tube driver, been doing it for 11 years. I can confirm that the salary is currently £55k. None of us are sure where these large numbers are being plucked from. It seems that they may be adding employer pension contributions on. The handful of people being reported to earn £100k must be Test Train operators which is a completely different grade/job altogether and allows unlimited overtime.

£55k is a decent enough salary for London but tube drivers are the 'poor' cousins in the TFL family as London Overground drivers are on £60k and Crossrail/Elizabeth line drivers are on £62k.

I am very grateful for my job as I am a working class person who had a rough start in life. I'm smart but my exam results were not great owing to growing up in domestic abuse. When I had my son I was determined and driven to succeed at something so I joined LU on stations at the age of 21. It took me three years to be successful at getting the Tube driver job. I was 24 and one of very few females/mothers on the job at that time. It is totally doable for people to get the job but you have to do your stint on stations or night tube just as we all have to. It gives you a good basis to be successful. I have helped many people apply for the jobs, including people on Mumsnet.

As for the driver at the centre of the industrial action, he is a fitness fanatic who drank a shake/drink which included hemp oil, and a trace showed up on a random drug test. Making the same mistake with CBD oil would also flag up the same way, we have to be extremely scrupulous with what we ingest.

Interesting link from the FOI, tentative ... interesting, too, that it tells us "you are required to meet the benchmark in order to get shortlisted", even though it had already said that internal applicants are not required to pass the (benchmark situational judgement test) and get to progress straight to assessment

I'd suggest there's some obfuscation going on there, but for me the really regrettable thing is that the FOI request didn't include how many of the external applicants were actually appointed

Here are the official salaries for all the grades. I'm TO21.

Thank you AbsoluteBeginners7.

Another thing to mention is that the LU desk managers are on a good few grand more than the drivers. Their job is to book drivers on, give uncovered duties out to spare drivers and answer the phone to people calling in late or sick. They also do the return to work interviews. They are in a comfortable office with access to a toilet, and need not deal with any antisocial behaviour or high pressure situations. Yet because they are 'managerial' they are not picked upon for earning £60k plus. Its a class thing, for sure.

How is it a class thing?

If managers earn 60 then that's about the same as tube drivers. There's not many positions where management earn the same as the people they manage.

I suspect management and drivers are all the same class anyway.

Tube drivers are on £55k and Train managers start on £60k. But out of the two, the newspapers only pick on the blue collar worker, who earns less and has the more challenging role.

There's not many positions where management earn the same as the people they manage.

There are tonnes.

Of course its a class thing. It’s a pervasive attitude that only graduate jobs should be well paid.

Why are tube drivers being targeted on this thread, out of interest? Why not lawyers, accountants and bankers? Is it because tube drivers are considered to have an unskilled profession, so of course they should be paid peanuts?

Absolutely! Many people think that "unskilled|" professions don't deserve even a living wage, let alone a decent one.

They should think again - a vibrant economy needs a population with cash in its pocket.

And EVERYONE should have a decent standard of living - no-one should be working 40+ hrs/week, just to be able to scrape by. Especially as many of the lower paid jobs are physically strenuous, mentally wearing and emotionally exhausting.

Aren't managers ex-drivers who have moved into management, so need to be paid more, or else no-one would move from driving into management, if it involved a pay cut? So are therefore exactly the same people?

And as for the press not picking on 'management' they seem quite keen on that in the public sector, because in their eyes, all managers are overpaid waste of space pen pushers, solely responsible for taking resources away from the front line.

No it's not about graduate level jobs, people think skilled work should pay more.

With so many of the tube lines automatic the driver's job looks far less skilled than many other professions that have equally demanding roles but pay half.

I don't buy the class thing, I don't think a driver is a blue collar work anyway as it's skilled and takes training. It's not somebody on an assembly line that can learn the job in a couple of hours.

Thank god someone has shown up to correct the amount of complete rubbish being spouted on this thread. Apparently the driver on over 100k had and accident at work and had a large compensation claim included in that figure. (Source was a union rep so not 100% sure that’s a fact but it makes sense).

They won't get that much and the ones that do will live at work.

Most, like mainline drivers will earn between 50-70k.

Lets roll out the old daily mail comment of driver less trains.

When you have experienced someone being killed by your train you realise why they get paid why they do.

And EVERYONE should have a decent standard of living - no-one should be working 40+ hrs/week, just to be able to scrape by. Especially as many of the lower paid jobs are physically strenuous, mentally wearing and emotionally exhausting

Well on that basis, it sounds like the unsolvable problem, because of housing costs in some areas being so far out of line with wages. For housing in London to be affordable, wages have to go up a lot, or rent/house prices come down a lot or both.

They could build a lot more houses/flats, but where? They could give lower to median paid workers in high cost areas priority for social housing, but there's still not enough space to match demand. They could help with rental costs, which they already do in terms of housing benefit, but then the country just spends a fortune lining the pockets of private landlords.

There's obviously an issue with 'everyone' wanting to live in London, so why not move some jobs and opportunities to other UK cities to spread the demand out more evenly?

Most earn 60-70k as the times report said, this doesn't include the travel perk. It's been said since the very start of this thread but can't paste the times article as it's copywrite.

The 100k+ ones are the test drivers.

I'm still shocked so many support a drugged up tube drivers right to keep his job after being caught 3 times.

What a horrible thread, probably born out of pure snobbery!