Christmas train strikes

[Darthwazette]

AIBU to wish the train strike situation could just be sorted out?

Theyve just announced strikes right over Christmas. My family were coming to stay with me and now they can’t. I’ve had to cancel so many visits and trips since these strikes began. I wish they’d just reach an agreement already.

They’ll call them off at the last minute again so they don’t actually lose any pay but the network is so screwed up most of the trains won’t run and they won’t have to work either. Happy days.

Are longer hours a good idea when someone is responsible for the safety of thousands?

Indeed, the operators were prepared to offer 4+4% with no strings attached but then the government insisted on adding a bunch of unacceptable conditions.

One of the reasons that the strikes are happening over Christmas is that the train companies are trying to make some of the changes to terms and conditions before Christmas. The union needs to respond to this.

If the train companies would push back the changes to January, then the strikes could be called off while discussions continue.

The timing of the strikes is down to how the companies are dealing with negotiations. They are trying to paint the unions as the ones causing the Christmas disruption whereas they are the ones who have the control

@DdraigGoch Thankyou for that, interesting and enlightening to hear from someone who knows what they are talking about.

Solidarity to all the striking brothers and sisters

Hear! Hear!

Many RMT members don't earn much at all, will be working long shifts.... some starting and finishing at anti social hours & dealing with some pretty aggressive members of the public... would you like to deal with a train full of football fans or a very drunk person, someone on drugs, someone cutting up rough because they wont pay, arguments over seat allocation?

& why exactly should they have an effective pay cut?

The RMT are a lot further down the track of their dispute IF they settled for a below inflation increase.... what do you think that would mean for Health workers and Teachers?

Yep... they'd also be forced to accept yet another below inflation rise.

Govt are ideologically opposed to unions and are engaged in a purposeful dispute with RMT. The Dept of Transport are active in blocking resolution and imposing additional T&C

Ooh yes, Avanti has 3 job vacancies and TPE has 10. How will they cope. And no, trains aren’t the equivalent of health. Demand has dropped massively, that’s just a fact.

😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣

@Theluggage15 why would we not have been paid 100% when we had to come to work just the same? I would’ve been quite happy to be furloughed on 80% as I would’ve saved on petrol. As we were classed as essential/key workers we weren’t allowed to be furloughed.

I fully support the strikers, but I wish it was a bit clearer regarding Christmas Eve. My daughter is booked on the train from Newcastle at 4 and I'm not clear as to whether this will be affected. We will drive up and get her if we have to. This is entirely the governments fault, to blame workers wanting a decent wage is just ridiculous.

The strikes over Xmas aren’t until nighttime and there’s no trains running anyway.

Do you think it's completely fair that you would be sacked for striking? That your employers are doing you a favour by employing you and deserve all their profits by divine right? Or might it actually be better if you had someone with authority to advocate for decent pay and hours for you and your colleagues and give advice and support, including legal advice if your employer tried to do something deeply immoral and illegal like sacking you for striking?

Unions and workers need to regain the powers that have been stripped from them and additionally workers need to understand that no matter how hardworking and loyal they are, they will never, ever become wealthy and powerful. That is a lie that seems to have gained enormous power recently from the chaos that is US politics and it suits the Conservatives perfectly to keep repeating and boosting the whole 'bootstraps' fallacy.

If you're a good worker and a good person you are staying at the bottom of the heap your whole life and so are your children. Since you don't have the networks you need to become a CEO, and probably aren't utterly amoral, you need a Union to make sure you're not left in poverty while working 16 hours a day.

If the suffering public got behind the striker's demands maybe the government would be more inclined to negotiate and the strikes would be called off.

You're blaming the wrong people. It's not the strikers who are making the public suffer it's the government agencies who are mistreating workers to the point that they have no other tools at their disposal other than to withhold labour.

There are no trains on the 25th and 26th anyway and it's only from 6pm in the evening on the 24th.

It's the media as usual stirring everything up

The rail companies have been imposing maximum fare increases for many years. According to the Open Democracy web site First Group (the largest operator), paid out nearly £500m in dividends last year and Abellio, which runs three rail companies, paid over £300m to its sole shareholder - the Dutch government. Bosses’ salaries continue to rise attractively.

Meanwhile my local station is rarely accessible for the disabled, London trains are so unreliable I must travel the night before an unmissable event, and over 1/3 of the trains from my station have been discontinued in the last 7-8 years. Antisocial behaviour on trains to my local city is sadly common.

As PPs have said, the current offer represents an 8% increase over four years, owing to two years of no pay rises for workers whilst bosses and shareholders lived in a different world. I support the strikes.

It’s also 27th, which has buggered up plans for those of us trying to see more than one set of family.

I thought they were supported by union funds?

But anyway, the so-called offer from the Rail Delivery Group was a joke. Although I do agree Sunday services need to be sorted out, but I didn't agree with much else of the "offer".

I don't want fewer ticket office staff - there are hardly any at our station already and occasionally it is helpful to speak to a human - for example the ticket machine will only sell you a full price, off peak or super off peak ticket - but it cannot answer a question about whether the ticket will be valid for the train you plan to use - machines and online purchasing will need to improve a lot.
Also we aren't being offered lower fares by sacrificing staff - we are being told staff will have to work harder for less with fewer of them, whilst fare rises will continue and Sir Bufton Tufton and his mates will get their payouts.

As for scrapping catering - I am very much opposed to this - perhaps you only make short commuter trips but as a less frequent (but for longer distances) traveller I regard on train catering as an essential.

Your claims to know how others feel are just vague supposition based on your hope they agree with you - but there's no evidence to support that.

Avanti are still short of several hundred drivers and TPE drivers are handing their notices in at a worrying rate. The vacancies aren't advertised because they can only train so many at a time.

Maybe demand has dropped in the south (where the norm was twelve coach trains every couple of minutes) but in the north the trains are bursting.

Demand is down, exact figures are below

But revenue and journeys are at about 70 to 75% to the same quarter three years ago (pre-pandemic).

This is most likely due to forced change to wfh patterns which have now been adopted. Higher prices or taxes are probably both unpalatable given prices are high already and taxes too.

If you’re annoyed by a strike it’s probably working. The benefit of being in a union is that you aren’t reliant on the public agreeing with you.

70-75% ??

www.railtechnologymagazine.com/articles/uk-rail-passenger-numbers-achieve-90-93-pre-pandemic-levels