Railway strikes- I think they are overdoing it

[MushMonster]

So, many people in UK commutes for work, many take the trains. I am one of them.
I do love the service, the apps are great to buy tickets and find train timetables, they run really well, even if delayed tend to be just 30 min or so, it is comfy. Also, it is electric, so better for the environment. I walk from and to the station, so it keeps me fit.
When the strikes started I just ut up with the inconvenience thinking that they were facing some redundancies, so protesting against that or low pay, I support.
But it has turned since las set of strikedays and this week into a strike against the consumer, from my point of view.
When they walked out last time, I got stuck in the city I work for 4 hours. The buses were fully booked and ran with delays. There had cancelled all the trains, not even a single one was on the timetable. I witness a large amount of people stuck for hours on end after a full days work or travelling with huge cass and children. The buses were fully booked till after 12 at night! So what I witnessed was actually only a fraction of it. When I caught the coach next day, the driver was warning passengers that on Wednesday London was so packed that coaches were delayed for 5 hours to get into London.
This time aroud, they published a set of dates, then they changed them, but I have read that in London they have walked out one day early. Changing the dates was to accomodate a busy weekend in London. So there must be another huge amount of people left stranded.

Trains are a vital service to me.
But they are cancelling a huge amount of trains on week long strikes.
Changing dates means they affect people who had planned around the original dates. They cost the commuter more money and stress. People are using buses and coaches yamming roads and polluting. People arrive late to work or back home, missing important things.
Newspaper today mention 600 million of cost to this country, to the tax payer, us who struggle with the cost of living.
I do not see this affecting anyone else bit the user. The train company will only return the money from the train ticket, not cover for the cost of the bus or driving or other alternative.
If they were reducing services, like running one train per hour instead of 30 min, then nobody would be stuck for hours on end, it will be only an inconvenient. The train company will have to return the ticket price if you train is in the delayed lot. But they are cancelling all trains at some points in UK.

Now, they know very well what they are doing. They know what is happening to all those stranded passengers. They know that the buses cannot cope with the amount of people, let alone the traffic due to people driving.

I think they should not be allowed to cancel more than 10% of the services, that they should grant alternative routes within 60 min of the trains they cancel, that strikes should not last more than one day per week and they should publish the revised detailed timetables for each station as soon as the strike date is set, so we can plan our commute.
So, what do you think?

AIBU- You support the strikes as they are currently
AINBU- They need to calm it down and provide a good basic service on strike days

This is literally the point of striking - causing disruption - so far it’s finally worked because the companies have FINALLY agreed to talks.

Train drivers haven't been involved in all the strikes, whether or not you think they are well paid is irrelevant. Many people in the railways are very poorly paid and being asked to sign up to poorer working conditions.

Try directing your anger at those encouraging poorer terms for workers and poor pay, not at the workers who, remember, don’t get paid when they strike.

I think you have lost the idea of what basic services are.
There are certain professions and services that should not operate less than a minimum as this would cause far too much trouble. Police, doctors, nurses, food rovision, water provision, energy provision, transport? anyone?
Transport is an essential service!

They need to calm it down and provide a good basic service on strike days

But that wouldn't be a strike?

Also, for what it’s worth, I find the Royal Mail strikes hugely inconvenient - I still 100% support them!! They should be striking!

@MushMonster they are a huge inconvenience I agree, but undoubtedly, the impact of strikes post Covid, generally speaking is not as significant as it was pre-Covid.

I'm not minimising the impact of strikes on people who can't WFH, or people travelling to medical appointments, or kids trying to get to school etc. But if you look at it in general terms, fewer people are impacted, now that more people can WFH. I work in the City, with zero WFH options pre-Covid, it was a huge, huge headache getting into work previously on strike days, involving buses, Thames boats, cabs etc etc. These days, I just WFH, get a bit of a lie in and save some cash. I wonder if this has had any impact on negotiations and rail workers leverage to negotiate.

No, not to the company. To everyone. The point is show how needed they are. If there was no disruption to the public is would be pointless

I think one of the problems is that potential passengers have lost faith in travelling by train because of the unreliability of the service.

IMO the railways should never have been denationalised, nor should they be run as a profit making company. They should be run as a service just as they are in other parts of the world who now have better train servcies than we do..

I prefer to travel by train, but I now drive because I just can't rely on the train any more. We are going away this weekend and were planning to take the train, but I'm now going to drive.

Trans Pennine Express are probably the worst service just now.

I think they should not be allowed to cancel more than 10% of the services, that they should grant alternative routes within 60 min of the trains they cancel, that strikes should not last more than one day per week and they should publish the revised detailed timetables for each station as soon as the strike date is set, so we can plan our commute.
So, what do you think?

Who are "they"? It is the workers who are on strike, and the managers who have to try and run what they can given that the workers are on strike. Usual rules are that union members do not have to give notice in advance that they personally are involved in the strike, so initially the management may not know exactly what staff they have, although with a series of strikes they've got a better idea as time goes on. If they say "the following services will run", you're going to be even more cross if you turn up and they don't have enough staff after all. Also, on some routes, if everyone knows which services are running, they are likely to get more people turning up for those than will fit, so it's arguably better to discourage people from travelling at all.

Union action is only going to be effective if it IS disruptive. Post-pandemic, one day a week probably just means lots of people work from home that day; we've learned how to do that now.

Oh, I am very angry with this useless government too, of course! Just waiting for Sunak to come up with his budget after Liz Truss memorable one. And I am pro good working conditions for all of is.

Just I cannot reconcile with the idea that what they have done this month and past with the trains can ever be repeated. I think some important changes are needed regarding how much basic services, especifically trains, can strike. That is what I wrote in my post.
Nobody needs a reminder of how much we need trains, at least, not the people who uses them.
And I think that reduced services does have a greater impact on the COMPANY as they then have to pay wages, run te services and return tickets fare for a large amount of ticket fares, without leaving people stranded hour after hour.

Even though they have ben cancelled LNER are still saying no availability for a journey I wish to take next Wednesday

There we are! You hit the nail for me!
I am, clearly, not from UK and I do 100% see transport as a service, while most of you are seeing it as a business.

Yeah, exactly! You cannot trust, it is all too wishu washy for me.
My train app is still showing strike days. Maybe they update tomorrow..

Actually I think we are all seeing it as a service?

What you are not seeing is that it is a service run by individual workers. You have a general view of what an undisclosed 'they' should do, which seems to include forcing people to work in conditions they don't want to.

I think you have lost the idea of what a strike is...the whole point is to cause disruption & make employers see how much you're needed.
Are you suggesting those in the jobs you've mentioned should just 'shut up & put up' with poor pay & conditions because otherwise it might inconvenience you?

No, but they do have the obligation to provide a reasonable minimum of service, enough not to put people at risk

It's not just pay they are striking over.

It's not just drivers that are striking.

The strikes are not all about the relatively well-paid train drivers - they are a small part of the workforce. In our area of the SE they cannot recruit cleaners and ticket collectors on just above the minimum wage. They have to work all types of shifts in some pretty difficult circumstances and have not had a rise for 3 years

They have to rework and update the timetable, give them a chance.

I have noticed that all of them are striking, thanks

To what extent? Are you saying once you join certain professions you have to put up and shut up? I recall the fire service strikes 20 or so years ago were quite well supported.

I commute on the train every day. To be fair on most of the strike days our very expensive train line did run a reduced service so it was possible to get to work, and lots of people I think wfh so it wasn't overly crowded. Normally the day after the strike is more of a PITA.

However saying this, the whole point of strikes is to cause maximum disruption to prove that its an essential service and use that as leverage.

Railway staff are well paid for the jobs they do.
I find it hard to have sympathy for the strikes tbh.

I totally agree with you.

No, they are not all striking. And the fact that you focus so exclusively on drivers show that you have not understood the basics of how the railway works and where the disputes are.

Perhaps then, those industries you wish to see banned from striking should be guaranteed pay rises etc?