What the f*** do the RMT think they are playing at.....

[fuming12]

So, the RMT are striking for a pay increase....during GCSE's. The poor kids who use the train to get to school are going to be left up the creek without a paddle, but no, a £44k average salary is not enough and they have decided to hold the country to ransom for more money.

There are 4 (possibly more) GCSE's being held next week and probably many a-levels too, schools are already warning that if pupils are late the exams will have to start regardless.

They cancelled trains that got kids to school during the pandemic, they are paid above average.

I would actually like to see the RMT fail, and be called out, on this one, AIBU? They are a disgrace.

I am a union supporter generally, but this is greedy in the extreme and smacks of extortion to line their members pockets at the expense of the general public. Higher wages = higher fares.

Again you obviously have no idea what it lives like to live in a rural area. Taxis here have limited hours and there are only 2 or 3 that cover the very, very small town and neighbouring villages. My son gets a taxi to school, the taxi comes from a town over. Its almost impossible to get a taxi from about 7-9.30am and 2.30-5pm because they are all on school runs for the local SEN children (my son actually has an hour journey in a taxi to get to/from school).
All the available local coaches/buses are already in use ferry children from the feeder towns and villages to the High school. There are no minibuses that aren't already being used.
The bus service here is dire, and I mean dire, if I need to get to the next town by 9am I need to leave at 6am and its only 6miles away. There is only one road in and out of the town and its not a massive main road. I've.got to go.out later and I'm dreading it tbh. Normally I'd walk down to the train station and get a train (works out cheaper than paying for parking), the one decent transport link we have is the train

It’s about time we stopped these long commutes on 17th century technology when people can work from home

The drop in demand due to wfh is happening, the issue is how to deal with drop in demand and unions

I'm shocked at the startling lack of awareness from some union supporters

oh please, because union supporters are by and large a well off, privileged bunch? 🙄

Kids don’t need to hire a bloody coach to get to school for exams, they can walk. The fact they travel by train is obscuring the fact that doesn’t mean that they’re travelling long distances, especially on a city line. Under five miles is doable as a temporary measure for something as important as GCSE/A-levels. The weather is even on their side, what do they do when bad weather cancels trains?

Also, I’m not sure why anyone is sitting in traffic for an hour+ rather than just walking (barring physical mobility issues).

@firef1y that does sound tough, but I have to say that your issues don’t sound like they’re a result of these particular strikes. Your commutes are vulnerable at the best of times from what you describe.

This has the potential to be the start of a snowball in terms of strikes. Many people voted for Brexit because they believed their labour was being undercut by the abundance of EU workers. Which to an extent it was.

So now we have a situation where unemployment is low, vacancies are high, the cost of living is spiralling and people are working harder to cover the gaps. But wages are still declining in real terms. Inflation is at 7+% and pay rises are at 3% at the top end

The Tories are being found out. Brexit was never about the people. It was always about making more money for the elite.

Strikes are supposed to cause inconvenience. That's the point of them.

We're having a cost of living crisis. We all need more money, but in effect many of us have had a pay cut due to increased NI etc and are expected to pay for higher fuel, food etc out of less money. I know this strike is not just about salaries but even for that good luck to them.

OP if it wasn't for unions, your child wouldn't be having GCSEs. They'd be going down mines and up chimneys.

The trains ran during the pandemic otherwise I must be imagining how I got to work. They were on a reduced timetable, cos you know, we were in lockdown and most people were furlough or what. But the schools were closed to all pupils bar a few exceptions anyway?!

OK I'm a Londoner but the majority of kids go to local schools and can walk or cycle there. Is there a reason your child can't do this?

What=wfh

My husband is a signaller and they are all striking today. Unfortunately he’s not able to go and physically strike as he’s just finished his 4th 12 hour night shift.

Jeez for about the 20th time this isn’t about the OPs child. She has said that many times. Her child is getting to school, she is making a general comment

Yes strikes are disruptive but they should t be disruptive for kids who have already had two years of messed up schooling

And for those that say get alternative transport. I have now been waiting 90 minutes for a bus that on a normal day would have a service every 7 minutes because the roads are so backlogged. And this is the only one I can get to get to work cos guess what the alternatives are closed because of strikes

*gridlocked even

My DC’s school is 16 miles away. It is in a city centre. Not everyone walks.

Also, those saying we had loads of time to get alternatives. Did we? I watch the news every day and it is only in the last week that it’s front line news.

Frankly I look forward to the day our railways are modernised and automated as TBH, the service is pitiful on a good day.

Kids don’t need to hire a bloody coach to get to school for exams, they can walk. The fact they travel by train is obscuring the fact that doesn’t mean that they’re travelling long distances, especially on a city line.

Rural kids often can't walk to school, there might be one school with a huge catchment area. Add to that country roads and no pavement so even if you are walking distance that walk may not be safe.

As to the 'people who can't afford a coach' I wasn't suggesting a single parent play I do think the parents and the schools could have worked together to get some alternative transport.

Or looked at matching up kids to sleep over the night before the exams.

It's not like these strikes were not planned and publicised.

So a week? That’s reasonable notice in my book.

16 miles to school is unusual, you wouldn’t get into a state school where I live if you lived that far away unless it was literally the only school for that distance.

railways will be automated, of course they will but that’s a huge undertaking and not likely to happen in the coming months or even years (HS2 is looking more and more like a white elephant isn’t it) and will still require a human to oversee although less staff overall. Plus you wait until lines are closed for upgrades - trains won’t be running then either.

In the meantime people have a right to expect certain working conditions and security.

Of course there was loads of time to get alternatives, it's been headline news for at least a week, as you said @SaladExerciseRepeat.

Drivers are mostly ASLEF members, so if you're in an area with Driver Only Operation then trains can still run regardless of RMT action, so long as Network Rail has trained enough managers/clerical staff to cover the signalling desks.

They can go fuck themselves. I have no sympathy at all. I hope they lose their jobs.
@Ginajo so as revenge for three days of action, you'd like there to be no trains for the next year while they train up replacements? Talk about cutting one's nose off to spite one's face...

You realise that plenty of people use trains for reasons other than to work in offices?

Liverpool Lime Street has seen footfall increase by 17% compared with 2019. Off peak trains up here are as busy as ever.

You realise that plenty of people use trains for reasons other than to work in offices

Where did I say they did? Vast stretch there.

The drop in season tickets due to wfh has impacted figures. Have you listened to people speak about the drop?

OP if it wasn't for unions, your child wouldn't be having GCSEs. They'd be going down mines and up chimneys

No, that would be free thinking entrepreneurs and technological advancements that moved society forwards. Mostly contested by unions. Just like the RMT.

Passenger numbers were 57 per cent of pre-pandemic levels with 990 million journeys compared with 1.74 billion in 2019/20.

Much of the rail industry’s income had come from passengers buying annual season tickets but working from home cut income from long-term tickets by more than 75 per cent to £526million.

16 miles to school is unusual, you wouldn’t get into a state school where I live if you lived that far away unless it was literally the only school for that distance

Again there are still vast swathes of the country that are rural, and a school may take in children from lots of village in quite a large area. The local high school takes in children from the whole of a very large (area wise) district that includes scores of villages. 16 miles isn't that unusual a distance for children to travel.
And believe it or not we're not so far from London, only about an hour train journey.
The nearest suitable school for my SEN son is 18miles away, thankfully he goes in a taxi. God knows how long it's going to take for him to get home each day this week with the extra traffic

Glad your DH hasn't had to take a hit, as he will be on his rest day. Night shifts are a bummer. Solidarity to the signallers.

I don’t disagree with your review of your particular situation @firef1y, but it’s not typical and an outlier in this situation (which is being measured in days not a sustained period of time) where the OP has specifically decided to focus on exams.

The majority of children travel around 2.5 miles. This is not an insurmountable distance to conquer to attend an important exam. It’s certainly not the disaster for 15/16 year olds exams presented in the OP.

I don’t dispute the strikes are causing real issues for people. GCSE’s and A levels are not one of them and it’s statement to do nothing more than provoke an emotional reaction regardless of facts.

Yes trains are an essential service and make a huge difference to people's lives. This should be reflected in pay and safety standards

The rail figures are lower than I thought

How would pp prefer the difference is made up? Higher ticket prices or higher taxes

iirc rail had &16bn in pandemic so already quite a lot in taxes, you could do higher ticket prices but you’d get drop off in demand