To have less sympathy for rail strikers because they've chosen to strike on Saturdays during summer holidays

[InChocolateWeTrust]

It's pretty clear the aim is to disrupt people's summer holidays. I get it, they are trying to cause maximum pain to rail operating companies, but all that happens is people squeeze onto transport the days either side and the people who bear the costs are the customers.

The train taking us on holiday was cancelled. It cost us hundreds to replan, including booking a short notice hotel room for an extra night, to avoid missing our onwards ferry. It would have cost similar to drive & park. We are lucky we could take the hit financially but plenty of others can't.

It just doesn't sit well with me that after years of Covid restrictions fucking up people's holidays the rail strike have prolonged the misery and its largely customers who are hurt.

This

I'm not bashing council estates, or their occupants - merely pointing out that someone earning in excess of £78,282 a year does not need council housing, and the decent thing to do would be to vacate that property in favour of a family who desperately do need help with finding affordable housing.

Blame the train companies and management - not the regular workers, who have been forced into this. The whole point of strikes is to be disruptive, and cause maximum pain to the companies.
I get it; it's really a pain for you - but do you want the overall service to get worse, and reduced?

We are booked to travel on the Friday (morning). Even though it't not a strike day I bet our train will be fucked. That leaves us the option of going on Wednesday and paying £100's for a hotel room for 2 nights / missing some very important things at home on the Thursday or going on the Sunday and losing 2 days of our holiday.

Striking will damage it anyway

People learn to use alternatives and demand stays under what it used to be

They are also striking to stop this:

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/rail-ticket-offices-rmt-union-passengers-b2369140.html

Totally agree. I recently rejected a job offer because there is no parking at the new office, and I would have to take the train. I've seen the hassle DH goes through every day with cancellations and strikes and packed trains and delayed trains and honestly, it woud have to be a lot more money before I would willingly put myself through that (DH has no choice, unfortunately).

We are a family that used to use public transport by default - we didn't even own a car. But the endless aggro that is train travel now has tipped us over the edge. The car is cheaper, far more reliable, and so much easier. I feel bad as I always wanted to use public transport for environmental reasons, but if you consider ease of use, finances and comfort only, then the car benefits far outweigh the train.

In many areas demand is above what it used to be. Some operators are even in better financial health than ever. Yet the government continues to avoid a settlement, deliberately prolonging the dispute.

A lot of these very poorly paid rail workers could not afford to go on holiday so you moaning about them asking for better pay and working conditions in the only way the gov will listen is pretty tone deaf.

Holidays are not essentials - a basic quality of life is. Not supporting workers who keep the country going because you don't fancy a holiday disrupted is a bit silly no?

@Miajk - can you share some evidence of these “poorly paid” workers? Glass door and Cashflow indicate that train drivers are paid very well, and that guard salaries are also not bad. I will try and link the tables below.

That’s great that some areas are doing well but also this

• Total passenger revenue in Great Britain (GB) in the latest quarter (1 January to 31 March 2023) was £2.2 billion. This is 70% of the £3.2 billion in the same quarter four years ago (pre-pandemic). In the latest year (April 2022 to March 2023), total revenue was £8.6 billion, this is 72% of the £12.0 billion three years ago.

I’ve been in private sector jobs with that kind of drop post financial crash, you can imagine what happened next

@MarshaBradyo - agree wholeheartedly with you. Covid has shown that many jobs can be done from home (I appreciate that many cannot, too), and the new flexible working rules coming in mean that more and more people will either work flexibly, or WFH and there will obviously be a decrease in train usage because of this. Additional factors such as overcrowding, unreliability, cost and strikes will further encourage those who can to work flexibly, or driver where possible. Demand will continue to drop in my view.

*drive, not driver

What’s especially infuriating is the TV advert encouraging people to get the train more. I would if they weren’t always on strike and the ticket prices weren’t so expensive. Save the TV campaign and get the basics sorted.

Railways are a public service, like healthcare and education. Their benefits should be considered as more than the contents of a balance sheet.

In Germany and Austria, the response to this has been extra funding and offers such as the Deutschlandticket (€49 for unlimited regional travel for a month). This is because their governments recognise that rail is an important part of decarbonisation.

The Tory government on the other hand has refused to allow operators to run promotions to encourage patronage. They have deliberately prolonged an industrial dispute (it's cost them more to fight than it would have cost to settle). They don't want a resolution, Shapps spent months pretending that it was nothing to do with him, despite "the Secretary of State" being written a thousand times in the National Rail Contracts.

A private business would have sorted this out a long time ago. They wouldn't be cack-handedly be adding unacceptable conditions (with no real value to the operators) onto any offer. The managing directors are frustrated at the government's intransigence.

Most employees aren't drivers.

In any case, even drivers have seen a 25% real terms cut in their wages over the last few years. It doesn't matter how high your salary is, you're going to need some significant belt-tightening there.

4% per year with no strings is hardly an outrageous amount in that context, is it?

Schrödinger's train: no one is using it but it's also overcrowded.

The 30% gap can be funded by taxpayers or ticket prices but there needs to be upfront discussion on that

Maybe people will agree with either or both to keep the service at same level

That made me smile. But they ARE overcrowded because so many others are delayed / cancelled / can’t be bothered. From our station there should be 2 to 3 trains per hour to London - in reality there are usually 0 to 1.

Do you get a guaranteed 4% increase every year? Good for you if so, but most people don’t.

It’s not only drivers who have had a real terms cut - we all have. Of course it’s not a race to the bottom (Mumsnet’s favourite phrase), but why are rail workers a special category, when they already earn quite well? Given the dire service that most train companies provide, it’s hard to justify an increase in fares. I’m happy to be persuaded differently, but so far no evidence has been provided to show they are “poorly paid” (as stated by a PP).

I agree, this was really a shame and I think ill-advised.

Unions and strikers used to make an effort to get the public on board supporting their action. Of course there would be disruption, that's the whole point. But when did unions become so lazy in engaging public support? Without it they'll get nowhere.

I strongly disagree with the decision to close ticket offices, so I support any strike action related to that.

Lots of railway employees earn around 20k per year which is hardly a very high salary?

Not sure why you just picked out a few on 40k and left it at that...

I didn't just pick outr a few and leave it at that. I started the post by asking if you had any evidence of the poorly paid workers - see extract of my quote below:
"@Miajk - can you share some evidence of these “poorly paid” workers?"

In a subsequent post I said, "I’m happy to be persuaded differently, but so far no evidence has been provided to show they are “poorly paid” (as stated by a PP)"

I'm still happy to be persuaded, but thus far no-one has provided any evidence, and the evidence I found appeared to be at odds with what you said. I'm not arguing with you - just asking for facts and figures. I don't think that's unreasonable.

Why would I? Inflation isn't usually that high. It's hardly an outrageous amount in years when inflation is 10% per annum.

I'm not a driver, so I'm not on anything like their wages. I'm the one getting sworn at and assaulted at work.

I'd be quite happy to see many other employments get a cost of living increase too. It might do something about the recruitment and retention issues in many fields.