What do people think about rail strikes?

[ITUnurse]

I cannot find any threads on the rail strikes / opinion of them.

I personally do support the strikes. We in the NHS will face a similar struggle shortly. I support the rights of workers to strike. Conditions at the moment are dire.

However, if England is so right wing and strikes aren't supported and the Tories continue to be voted in. I've not seen much public support online except from a few and I'm at risk of being in an echo chamber.

Ultimately if England is so under the thumb of the tories, I'm not sure what the long term solution is. The rest of the UK doesn't return the Tories in such numbers.

If you don't support strike action, what do you think the rail workers, NHS workers etc should do? We've already got people leaving enmasse. It's difficult to comment on the conditions of a job you don't work in and nurses regularly get gaslighted on here I am genuinely concerned as to what is going to happen to the public sector of the UK with this right wing stranglehold.

Thanks

My DH works for a rail company and is a member of the RMT. He has been on strike this week, albeit with a heavy heart. He works in a small rural station and knows all of his 'regulars' personally, so feels bad about 'letting them down', (most of them support him wholeheartedly).
HOWEVER, he is sick and tired of the insecurity and uncertainty. No one in his company will tell the workers anything. Everyone is terrified of suddenly being made redundant. And the wages are not great at all - DH is responsible for an entire, (small), station, and his basic pay is less than £25k. He has to do extra shifts at a larger station on his day off to bump up his wage.
So yes, I fully support the strike action, and I would absolutely support low paid NHS workers if they decided to strike too - some of the wages the lower bands are expected to live on are a disgrace.

I fully support them. I'd support a national strike too. Enough is enough. Get the Tories out.

I fully support the strikes too. We should all strike. The inequality gap is huge. It’s no good for anyone to live in a country like ours.

Despite any disruption and inconvenience, I will always support the right for workers to strike.

Fully support them too

I don’t support strikes.
Wages need to be kept low to stop inflation running away.

I don't think the unions have the support of the majority of workers because most people don't go on strike when they don't like the pay or conditions anymore. The unions also don't have the leverage they used to with so many people WFH.

The rail unions are completely ignoring the reality that revenues have shrunk by 25%.

I know strikes are meant to inconvenience people but thank goodness my brother in law offered to drive down and fetch my parents from their holiday today otherwise they wouldn't have been able to get home.

However the PTB* aren't bothered by the fact that an elderly couple were unable to travel from Devon to the Midlands or anyone else in their position and therefore I'm not sure how much the strikes will change things.

As in the management / government.

I agree with their right to strike.

I don’t understand why they won’t put the 8% deal offered to their members to vote on - it’s a lot more of a pay rise than I’ve had in many, many years.

I fully support the strikes. The MSM are pushing the usual rubbish about "the average worker being on over £40k . Well why not they have a responsible job. It is not about money it is about pension cuts, working conditions and in my opinion cuts to the safety of passengers.

@BlackbirdsSinging please can you explain the link between wages going up and inflation going up? I’ve never quite understood it, but have seen it mentioned a lot recently. What’s the solution to this - just keeping the lowest paid workers on wages that decrease further and further in value until they can’t afford to live?

I absolutely support the action, and that of the post office workers.

@Hotandbothereds It is because it isn't just about pay. They want to drastically change the pension agreement and the hours they work. Putting in place agreements that trains will be without guards or insprctors, leaving passengers vulnerable.

@BlackbirdsSinging , but there has been below inflation wages rises for over twelve years, yet inflation is at a 30 year high. How do you explain that?

I should add that I support these strikes. I work in the public sector (although not in the rail industry), and have sadly heard first-hand in my current job how financial cuts to public services over the last decade have made people’s jobs harder and harder.

That " thirty"should read 13, fat fingers

Absolutely support them. The race to the bottom the Tories have been promoting for the last decade has to stop. I work in private sector (commute into south london), no union and no opportunity to strike but I hope the ripples in the pond the public sector strikes produce may help me too. Solidarity.

I support them for sure. The train companies continue to take the piss. This week my train was cancelled, and offered me a transfer to a train that would cost hundreds more. It’s a fucking joke, for everyone involved

How low are your wages Blackbird? Or is it just other people that should have low wages?

I support strike action too - so long as it's not months of uncertainty and disruption.

I’m fully supportive of the strikes (despite having been inconvenienced by them today), and will also support any other group of workers opting for strike action in the near future. Something needs to change, and I feel that direct action is now the only way this change can be achieved.

@WhiteFire strikes are not there to inconvenience rail users!!!!

Ah ok, I thought there must be something else - the news reports never go into additional detail on these things.

Another one supporting the strikes. The government are deliberately stopping the companies from coming up with a solution. It plays to the Tory right wing views of unions having too many rights /holding the country to ransom bollocks. I predict teachers and nurses will be next.

I fully support them.