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

I genuinely support the rights of all workers and I think supermarket workers got the shitty end of the stick during the worst of Covid (along with others). I just don’t get why we can’t support other industries and be grateful for the impact their unions may make - the RMT are showing us what can happen if we stand up and say ‘we’re not taking this’.

It's ridiculous that so much tax is used to support businesses & landlords because of low wages & reduced social housing

Well all those people in other industries can join a union and strive for higher pay too then. And they should be supported as well. "I earn shit all and so should you" is not very socialist.

I can't vote as neither option fits my opinion. I dont think they are more deserving of a raise than everyone else but I do think they deserve a raise. The people who don't need a raise are the ones on 6 figure incomes!

Really the trouble is things cost so much now, once a poorman could feed his children and put a roof over their heads.
Then it got to the point both parents worked to keep a household.
Now we have The State paying some people as much as they earn to keep their household.
But the more the minimum wages rises the more it effects business's so the prices go up and people need more money to help them survive, a circle.

Yet the rich are getting richer & the gulf between the haves & have nots is widening.

@ticktickticktickBOOM how much is the CEO of your charity on? Just because it's a charity doesn't mean you should just sit back and accept shit pay. And begrudge other for taking action.

@Jackanackanory

Because until it affects you directly strikes are a good idea.

I totally agree @BloodyCamping

Care workers are central to a caring society and work incredibly hard.

You are all so dedicated that I strongly suspect that striking would be an impossible decision for you all as you know it would harm the people you care for.

So . . . (and this is what I'm trying to get at in this thread): what collective action could the rest of us take in order to improve your working conditions?

I genuinely want to hear from people on new ideas that would quickly progress positive changes without harming the vulnerable or workers needing to lose pay.

collectively refusing to pay our gas and electric bills for 3 months

I think you live in a bubble, if I dont pay for my gas and electric it goes off, like the other 4.3 million people that are on pay as you go

passenger trains aren't the only trains.
Goods are transported by rail.

Nobody is going to sack the railway.

A lot!

I don't begrudge them taking action. I just think we need to move in a modern era of collective action rather than actions which harm other working class and vulnerable people in society.

There has to be a more effective way. Surely the masses can effect change far more powerfully than just a few?

Not people on a prepayment card. Of course I wouldn't want your gas or lecky to go off - that would cause hardship which is my whole point about collective action. The rest of us would refuse payment to effect change for all of us.

No-one should suffer to effect improvement for all. No-one except the people that have the power to make the changes that is.

ticktickticktickBOOM
I think it's interesting how easily sucked in most people are. There are many wealthy people paid bucket loads of cash including those in power. However, many people say absolutely nothing about this, but the minute workers suggest that they should have a pay rise, people are up in arms and comparing their own pay to these workers etc etc. They are also sucked in by Tory attack lines about the pay of train drivers who are not even part of the striking group! They are in a different union. The average pay of the people in this dispute is 33,000. This is far from well paid. Maybe you should check your facts before making a judgement.

I also would point out that anyone can join a trade union and use collective bargaining and strikes to try and better their position. The reason why the wealthy get away with shit pay and conditions is the weakening of the power of the unions and the support given to these people who pay themselves huge bonuses and salaries whilst the rest of us are paid poorly.

There wouldn’t be any point in a strike if it didn’t affect someone. I was affected directly by the last rail strike and I will be affected directly by the upcoming strikes (as a non driver I rely on trains) but I still support the rail workers, in the same way I’d support you if you had the need to strike.

Network Rail employee.
We haven't had a pay rise for 4 yrs despite the promises made.
We were the forgotten key workers, we kept the rail network running through the pandemic, moving passengers (other key workers), freight and we did essential maintenance.
The strike is not just about pay, its about potential job losses and safety.
Ignore the media hype about how much money we earn, my favourite quote is that we're all on £59k a year 🙄 most of us are lucky if we earn half of that amount.
Listen to Mick Lynch, listen to him shoot down the media with his honesty.
Have a look at how much NR CEO Andrew Haines earns, £585k.
Read the article where Nicky Hughes, NR head of communications states that NR workers "should have worked harder at school" 🤬
Rail workers are suffering financially along with a lot of other people, we don't take strike action lightly, it costs us money but we are standing strong together and we would hope that the country would back us instead of bleating because they can't catch a train.

Wouldn't it be more effective for all you lot that wish to send a message to the railway bosses to pay their workers better and to improve working conditions by boycotting using their services and refuse to buy tickets until they give comply with mass demand?

That would be MUCH more effective in getting some fast action.

If everyone's so keen to 'stand in solidarity' for rail workers and so against the mass profits made by railway owners/investors - why are you still buying tickets for anything except essential travel??

I haven't used any form of public transport in 5 years, at least, so I suppose I am...

Of course I'd feed my family. I'd also support supermarket workers if they wanted to strike.

Because the rail workers unions can say so themselves if they want a boycott. They don't need you appointing yourself to do it. I'll take my cue from them, not a random on the internet.

Mick Lynch tells it as it is
twitter.com/saulstaniforth/status/1551975194662780931?s=21

This- they love it when we fight and argue amongst each other. YABU

Because people still have lives to lead and things to do.

If we all stop buying train tickets they'll start cutting services and making redundancies then nobody wins.

Sure about that, are you? I’m looking at Tesco pic’s annual report and accounts for the year to 27 February 2021. Their profit after tax was £721m, not £2.2 Bn. Only two thirds out, eh? For the year ended 27 February 2022 it was £1.5 Bn, on revenue of £61 Bn. Hardly a generous margin.

You might say, yeah, use all that to give the staff a pay rise! Who’s swallowing the cost? The shareholders. Yeah, sod them, the rich bastards. Oh, hang on. Tesco’s biggest shareholders are, er, pension funds. You know, the funds that your retirement depends on.

You know what will happen. Prices will go up. Of course they will. Fuelling inflation.

@VeniVidiWeeWee asks some good questions. She exposes the hypocrisy really well. For all the posturing on this thread about supporting all strikes of whatever nature so that people can feed their children etc etc, I agree with her that a strike of food supply chain workers wouldn’t be viewed quite so favourably. We’ve been informed several times on this thread that the whole point of striking is to cause inconvenience and suffering so that the strikers’ employers can see how important the cause is and thus we should all support every strike.

How positive and supportive would you be if all food shops closed for a week? Just to really cause inconvenience, like strikers are supposed to? Not very, is the answer.