Is it unreasonable for the train strike to ask for cost of living increases?

[trainsareapain]

I'm guessing that most private companies and definitely all public service / civil service authorities will not be getting a cost of living rise.

Most of us simply have to accept the fact that our current wages will not go as far as it did last year.

The whole country cannot go on strike to rectify this and so what makes the train driver so special / entitled to these unrealistic rises?

Most teachers, emergency services and local Government staff will not have seen anything like a half decent rise in the last 10 years.

Yes I know it's not a race to the bottom. But asking for substantial increases when we're still recovering from Covid seems greedy and unfair.

YaBU. Its not greedy to want a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. I don't notice the senior management being shy with their pay rises.

I probably should have done a bit of research before making my post. My bad.

Anyone know how far apart the workers and train companies are ?

There is clearly more than enough money to pay workers fairly and to improve the railways, but it requires the kind of fight that RMT union members have begun. Every working class person should support the strike and show solidarity with the picket lines.

socialistworker.co.uk/features/britains-rail-network-on-a-fast-track-to-profit/

Pay rises will just fuel inflation. The problem is if these essential services strike and win and get a pay rise, inflation will increase and the rest of us will be left in an even tighter spot.

Yes, it is reasonable of them to ask. Though I see you're already having a rethink so I won't say yabu.

No they are not being unreasonable. Rail companies are raking it in making profits for shareholders, they can definitely afford to pay more.

''pay rises will fuel inflation''...

Funny how some people choose to parrot that line but never say ''huge profits and bonuses given to fat cats CEOs and shareholders will fuel inflation''.

The RMT is doing what it needs to do to support its members.

We need to stop having that mindset where it is OK for electricity, transport, gas companies or BT to make huge profits and pay their senior management a fortune while their employees struggles and the public has to pay ridiculous bills to afford these services.

Personally I want to see transport and utilities brought back into public ownership so they are run to benefit the public and not shareholders and the employees of these companies being paid decently.

Are you aware op of the rampant inequality in this country? Why is it OK that the rich keep getting richer (much much richer) whilst the rest of us have to 'suck it up' lest we risk inflationary pressures? Economics is not a science, keeping us poorer is a political choice. One you seem to have accepted.

I support the strikers because the rail companies do not care , make heaps in profits and do not pass it on to their workers.
I know it's not totally as black and white as that , but that's the bottom line and I hope they back down on this and resolve these strikes by paying the ones on the lower salaries what they deserve, a decent pay rise.

They are not the only people striking though. BT had a strike just the other day, Royal Mail have balloted for strike, Barristers have recently stage a strike...

I don't think they actually are - I think that's the problem. Even before covid some of them were handing the franchises back to the government because they couldn't make enough money out of them.

However, drivers and signallers have incredibly demanding and important jobs and they should be paid well.

The problem is that the train companies aren't actually making enough to pay what the strikers are demanding. Pre-Covid, maybe they were, but right now they're not.

So in order for the strikers to get the pay rise they're demanding, one of two things has to happen:

1. The train companies will have to raise their (already extremely expensive) fares and possibly alienate their customer base; or
2. The govt will have to meet the shortfall and bail them out. So far, Grant Shapps won't even meet with the union.

Another issue is that rail strikes aren't as effective any more as a means of putting pressure on the govt to act, because post-pandemic many businesses are set up so that their workers can easily WFH and many workers are more than happy to do so. Bottom line is many people in many lines of work aren't paid 'a living wage'. They are paid what the business can afford to pay them, in line with legislation regarding minimum hourly working rates.

You can be certain that that the queens salary will stay in line with inflation! We live in an unequal society & most people seem to be okay with that.

This is from the ONS

Average total pay growth for the private sector was 8.2% in January to March 2022, and for the public sector was 1.6% in the same time period; the finance and business services sector showed the largest growth rate (10.7%), partly because of strong bonus payments.

I think that it is only right that the rail workers are asking for a cost of living increase.

Agree with this completely

For some of the striking rail workers, the issue is not only about actual money. Major changes are being proposed to their working methods and their contracts that could have huge implications for safety on the railway as well as personal wellbeing. But that doesn't make for good headlines, so hey, let's focus on the percentages.

This.

Nobody is unreasonable for wanting a cost of living increases unless they are already wealthy perhaps (6 figure incomes surely don't need it quite so much). I think its immoral for companies to up their prices if they would still make good profits without doing do, as they could make a choice to not contribute to inflation but that's not the way capitalism works

Information on the deal on offer has been shared by a Network Rail employee:

Network Rail have claimed that their pay offer gives a pay rise of 4% this year and 4% next year in a deal that has more strings than a harp. How does it affect a typical track worker?

• He or she currently gets paid £13.51 per hour giving a gross pay of £1891.40 every four weeks.
• A 4% rise means £1967.04 every four weeks but that's for 40 hours rather than the current 35. That means the hourly rate of pay actually drops to £12,29 per hour
• If a worker gets asked to work a rest day or a Sunday (A Sunday that they weren't booked to work) the enhancement payments for those shifts have been reduced on top of the already reduced hourly rate. Sunday go from time and a half to time and a quarter. Rest days go from time and a quarter to time and a tenth.
• Therefore in monetary terms pay for an extra Sunday has gone from £162.08 to £122.88. Pay for working a rest day will from £143.76 to £108.16.
• So if a track worker works one Sunday and one rest day every four weeks, their gross pay every four weeks rises from £2197.21 TO £2198.05. 21p extra per week.

So they have to work an extra five hours per week, for an extra 21p. That's before you consider that thanks to inflation that wage will go considerably less far than it did before.

That's Network Rail, what about staff working for the operators? Well the companies won't even start bargaining because Grant Shapps (and by proxy the Treasury) won't let them. Instead he spends his time on his Twitter account making threats of banning overtime, while simultaneously whinging that staff won't volunteer for any overtime.

Absolutely this.

OP, YABVVVVVVVVU