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.

Why? How dare they want workers to earn a decent living.

how dare they want to try and make sure people don’t have the choice between eating or heating.

how very dare they.

Oh dear.

I don’t understand this though?
Sure, being underpaid sucks and is a good reason to be striking.
But almost every job looking forward to the next 20 years is going to be changing and getting automated. Many parts of many jobs will be automated. It’s a stone cold fact, absolutely nothing you can do to change that including striking. It’s going to happen in every sector!

"the only ones who benefit are the bosses who take in the coins." and the people that use the trains that run and time, and are clean and well maintained.

If a job can be automated it should be automated. Otherwise we might as well go back to the feudal system.

Bullshit.

I use the trains and they’ve taken away so many staff and it’s shit. Automation is about making bosses and shareholders richer.

@Florenz

If a job can be automated it should be automated.

Why?

People talking about automation - think carefully about who is spouting that automation is a good thing.

those who want to save money (by cutting staff) and sell it as some sort of benefit for the customer. as if.

Without unions it would be a race to the bottom. Lower and lower wages, worsening terms and conditions, termination of contract without cause, health and safety breaches.

Oh well, if the English keep voting for their Tories then it won't be long.

Without unions it would be a race to the bottom. Lower and lower wages, worsening terms and conditions, termination of contract without cause, health and safety breaches.

Do you mean specific sectors? As I’ve never been in a union, nor have others in general and salaries go up, contracts are honoured etc

You do realise that’s how a strike works don’t you? You withdraw labour and don’t get paid?

i fucking despair at times I really do. Do you think people just don’t turn up for work with no impact on themselves? Did you miss the massive bit of British social history around the miners strikes and the miners families?

Are MNs 6 figure earning demographics that under educated they don’t know basic politics, history and maths?

I don’t believe this thread is representative. Everyone I know in real life is just pissed off with the strikes. I am still annoyed by the significant disruption when SWR kept striking. I knew lots of people whose jobs were at risk because they had become so unreliable. The only people that suffer are the passengers. People will miss out on operations, families may miss holidays, students may struggle to get to exams.

I have some sympathy with the aims of the RMT but am fed up of being shat on via strike action so I have no sympathy anymore. It’s been used as a tool too many times.

Oh Ive just caught up with your logic. They’d be as well striking the whole week then and the disruption of getting up and running again can roll into the next week, that suit better?

The market decides wages. Unions don't like that jobs are paid what they are worth.

It’s not about more money or ‘lining pockets’, you prick.

Read something FGS.

The RMT is its members. So you are slating the railway workers while admitting how crucial their jobs are.

Good on them. Wish more sectors would unionise in this way.

Try directing your anger at fat cat bosses and greedy shareholders instead, not to mention our vile, corrupt government.

Reported this thread due to dangerous factual inaccuracies that plagued the last thread. Average salary of £44k? Some people need to do more than read headlines.

Clueless 😂

I like how looking after elderly people is barely minimum wage.

I guess Mr. Market thinks "fuck old people".

Actually more people have sympathy for this strike than many other ones of a similar nature.

Given you have sympathy, what would you suggest?

I feel for the children who won't be able to get to their exams and don't have parents who can facilitate getting them there by alternative means. Of course parents with money or a car will be fine if not find it annoying and inconvenient, but as always certain sections of society will miss out the most. Thankfully I don't ever have to use a train- paying £££s to wait around in hideous stations with late and honking trains has zero appeal. I suspect many who use them have little choice.

‘I like how looking after elderly people is barely minimum wage.’

Yes. Because most of the workers won’t join a union or take any action.

And before you start, no it wouldn’t be about walking out on strike and leaving the service users/patients alone.

Everyone I know in real life is just pissed off with the strikes.

I suspect most who don't mind don't rely on the trains or can weasel out of whatever they had to do those days ie work from home instead of commute. For those who won't get paid if they don't magically get themselves to work, have to get to exams, travel to see unwell family members, hospital appointments or whatever else it probably is something to be pissed off about. More worried about the pending doctors strike to be honest.

Of course it would be, do you think asking nicely has worked well? Where are people going to appear from to look after these people whilst they invariably strike?

ChateauxNeufDePoop I genuinely don’t think more people do have sympathy with RMT. Granted I am in my own bubble so i can’t claim my circle’s views are any more representative but I really don’t think you can underestimate how many people local to me are still bitterly angry about
the 27 day SWR strike fiasco from a few years ago. There are many professions that deserve a pay increase like care workers and other public sector workers. We’re entering a recession where many people will feel squeeze re salary freezes or job cuts. Holding people to ransom like the RMT are doing is not something I can support.

The labour movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it. By raising the living standards of millions, labour miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who attack labour forget these simple truths, but history remembers them.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR