To say suck it up like the rest of us???

[ticktickticktickBOOM]

I come from a socialist family, we had striking miner's kids living with us for respite during the strikes. However, the railway unions are taking the pee aren't they? Transport workers aren't the only people taking a hit right now. What about the 100's of thousands of hospitality, leisure, carer and charity workers in bars, cafe's, restaurants, theme parks, swimming pools, hotels, campsites, working in supporting all our children and elderly relatives etc that are getting between tiny and zero wage increases yet have no option but to carry on and make ends meet. Why can't railway workers see the problems they are going to cause and why can't they see that they are IN THE SAME BOAT AS EVERYONE ELSE (except the wealthy obvs).

YABU - striking railway workers are more deserving of pay increases than the rest of us

YANBU - we need to pull together and see every member of society through this and not cause each other harm

@StepAwayFromGoogling

But we can afford to keep paying massive wages and profits at the top?

I agree with so many of these comments. I'm just conflicted because the charity I work has been on a pay freeze for over 10 years and although we have had a rise in the last 2 years it still an effective pay cut now due to the NI increases and cost of living. We are unionised but the nature of our work means there would be huge amounts of suffering if strike action was taken - so employees have never voted to strike despite many opportunities in the last 6 years.

Of course I think everyone should be on fair pay but railway workers don't get a bad deal at all. I agree that cuts in employees is a safety issue and this is happening in so many sectors, not least the NHS as we have seen recently. The real reason many of us are suffering is due to the cost of living increases, the higher NI, the petrol hikes and the gas and lecky increases.

I would love to see an organised general strike that hit the right people in the right places. Sadly shutting the rail network only harms the people who depend on public transport for work, hospital appointments, the disables, the elderly and many others.

Why can't we learn to strike in a more general and organised way? For example all refusing to buy petrol for a week (unless essential of course), all refusing to pay the income tax on our wages, collectively refusing to pay our gas and electric bills for 3 months or all cancelling our direct debits.

Now those actions would send a clear and terrifying message to those making money out of us. Collective refusal to pay.

I'll probably end up getting my phone tapped now.

I would love to see an organised general strike that hit the right people in the right places

It generally does. The bosses, in their profit margins.

railway workers don't get a bad deal at all.

What even the cleaners who are on minimum wage? The train managers and beverage staff who have to cope with abusive passengers? I'd say they have a rather bad deal wouldn't you?

i don't believe in a race to the bottom, wages have stagnated for most for nearly 2 decades.

No opinion but it might be an idea to think about the data.

Is it greedy to seek a 3% pay cut instead of a 10?% pay cut and redundancies?

Taking a broader view, by what % has transport workers' earning power been reduced over the last 12 years along with teachers, health workers and so on?

By what % has the income and wealth and share of GDP has the top 5%/1%/0.1% increased over the last 12 years? Did that happen by accident?

Perhaps an unmissable opportunity to permanently impair the earning power of public sector employees by more than 10?% over the next few years?

Do you think a 10% haircut of the wealth of the richest 1% would be taken quietly for the good of the country.

When certain corporates scream than consumer demand is impairing turnover and profits then you might see a government incentivised to take action.

Every single train strike has impacted me, socially and professionally.
And I back them 500%.
I have cancelled work, trips to London, the zoo, visits with friends etc.
And I back them 500%.
The changes to their working conditions and pay isn't okay.
They're legally allowed to strike.
How DARE network rail be making profit and be doing this.
I will always back any workers strike, because profit should not come before people. End of.
As others have said, it is not a race to the bottom.
You don't like your wage, get your union to negotiate.
My union, unison, is currently seeking a fourth pay rise after securing huge pay rises recently. And I am proud to be one of them.

It’s not about pay, it’s about job security 🙄

Oh that’s great then because you’ve been affected but support the strikes, fuck tne

Tories love the Divide and Rule. Helps make them and their friends richer.

I wish more workers had a union like the RMT.

I back them 100%.

There's plenty of money in the railways. But it's creamed off by management and shareholders, while workers pay and conditions stagnate.

The rest of us**

Who gets paid more than most? Cleaners? Ticket collectors? Or are you thinking if train drivers, whose pay is not part of this strike?

Your voting options aren't fair - I voted YABU as your stance is unreasonable.
It isn't a race to the bottom, instead of getting annoyed at a trade union that's properly fighting for its members, why don't we instead see that and wonder why others aren't doing the same? Good on the RMT, we need more unions and their members willing to take such bold action.

Nobody withdraws their labour lightly. The workers who are striking still have homes to pay for and kids to feed. Striking is the last option for desperate people and YABU to berate them for that. As for other sectors, if more workers stand up and say enough is enough maybe we'll start to see a fairer distribution of wealth.

The government doesn't make profits or pay massive wages. The government should be closing legal loopholes that allow the rich to escape tax and massive corporations to stop paying it, I agree. It still wouldn't cover a significant wage increase for millions of people.

That would carry more weight if they did it every year. They’ve had below inflation or zero pay rises for years. Bit yes, if you want to be treated well by employers you need a strong union. Join one.

Have you ever listened to Mick Lynch? He explains why they are striking and the background of the bosses getting richer and richer, the workers getting poorer and the service getting worse. I think the nurses will strike soon, and I know teachers are considering balloting to strike in September. Things are getting tough for normal people, and of course with real cuts of 5 - 6% when inflation is taken into account workers are going to be unhappy. We live in a society where strike action is legal, and it is not taken lightly.

It isn’t the workers wanting more more more it’s the shareholders. They are giving workers real terms payouts, taking subsidy from all our tax and paying bigger and bigger dividends. You’re cross with the wrong people. Open your eyes and see what’s going on in this country.

You are being unreasonable in that both your arguments are false. If you want a reasonable pay rise from your company’s profits, join a union and bargain for them. And don’t vote Tory if you’re a public servant.

Rubbish. Who are we ‘borrowing’ from? The Bank of England. It’s a branch of the state. The state is borrowing from itself. There are zero consequences. You’ve been had.

It's not about just money, it's about working conditions.

Train prices have gone up, so everyone pays more. Wages haven't, and additionally roles were cut so now the big bosses bank all this extra profit coming from our pockets.

That's why this strike is so important and it sets a great example for everyone of what we should be fighting for. Greedy bosses are the ones being unreasonable. We need to stop turning on each other as that's why they always get off easy, were all to busy arguing with each other while they take the money and leave us in shit.

It's better than sitting around moaning on the internet and hoping some miraculous changes are made. You're essentially saying shut up and put up, which is a crap attitude that gets us nowhere.

YANBU. Surprised at the number of people attacking you OP. To the ones who support it, have you personally been fucked over by your train not showing up or being cancelled? Bet you haven’t. Bet you haven’t endured the stressed of having your entire route to work/school being disrupted or cut off entirely because of workers packing up their bags and stomping their feet. What if healthcare workers just decided up and leave? Think the response would be very different then!! We’re all struggling, and I do believe it was selfish of them to disrupt the entire country for it.

To the ones who support it, have you personally been fucked over by your train not showing up or being cancelled?

My train line has been shit for years with constant cancellations & delays but prices keep going up.