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.

@KnittedCardi I would love to see the route I drive automated. It would be an absolute nightmare.

Hundreds of miles. Hundreds of signals. Speed restrictions. Trespassers on the line. Passengers fighting. Passengers being taken ill. Stuff thrown or left on the track, the list goes on and on. And every single time I'd take a human in charge on hundreds of tonnes of train going 100mph than a computer.

And for my excessive wages, I manage to open and close the doors just fine thanks.

Also we are not on strike. We are in a different union. I must have said that a thousand times over the last few months .... getting more than tedious now. Almost as if the general public just believe the media and don't do any research before forming an opinion.

People who believe that these strikes do not have a political agenda are idiots. Can’t they see that massive increases only fuel further inflation. Then people will blame the tories.just like the miners strikes these are nothing but political strikes. The best thing that the railway s can do is shut the system down completely until the unions war chests are empty so that they can no longer pay people to strike which is what they are doing now. They are paying £100 a day to these strikers. The railway men are being used as pawns in the game.

I'm moderately pro the strikes - people should have the option to withdraw their labour and thats what they are doing.

... But at Christmas. That's shit for everyone. It's been a tough year and we could all do without this. It won't win friends.

Who is paying £100 a day to strikers??

@KnittedCardi its a shame that the media don’t actually list which union is for which part of the service in a clear way that the general public can understand
it’s so biased towards the government and if people really knew what was going on I think they’d realise how ‘shafted’ the staff are -
yes train drivers get paid loads (but no one seems to mind pilots being paid lots!) and TD have to carry 1000’s of passengers working up to 12 hours a day and (I think) a minimum of a 44 hour week - everyday a Wednesday as no differentiation between weekends/bank holidays etc.
i appreciate that these strikes are not ASLEF (the TD union) but really wish the regular person could understand the difference!

@mangomary Rail staff get no money on the days they strike!

I support the strikes. The conditions they were being forced to accept along with a paltry 4% pay rise were ridiculous.

For those saying, "well I'm not getting a payrise" - you're almost there. You've almost reached the conclusion you should be reaching.

@snoodles Have you bothered to read all the conditions that go with this pay rise? Thought not!

Putting that post after the post Ive quoted below which is a few above yours is an interesting choice:

One of the 'modernisation' measures is removing staff from stations. Which will in effect make traveling by train impossible for wheelchair users. That's not something any staff with a conscious can willingly sign up to.

Your one off lunch is obviously more important than a wheelchair user not being able to use a train

Striking isn’t about winning friends, it’s the formal process of withdrawing labour
Union ballots its members not Christmas lunchers,those who’ll be irked by inconvenience upon them or their kids types

No wonder they are happy to strike if they get £100 a day, that's more than minimum wage.

Several operators are struggling to keep drivers precisely because the government won't let them pay the market rate. This is one of the reasons that services are so poor at the moment.

If you believe that fully automating trains in the UK (beyond a handful of newly-constructed lines) is going to happen in the next 100 years then I've got a bridge to sell you.

THEY DO NOT GET PAID FOR BEING ON STRIKE.

Railworker here, female btw in response to your sexist remark. We are NOT getting paid to strike, not even a quid let alone 100 a day. Stop spouting and perpetuating bullshit

Travellers might have more sympathy if the trains ran well when they are not on strike! The service is dreadful to/from the west country at weekends.

As I said, there's plenty of pent-up demand being suppressed because the service isn't there to meet it. Whether that's TPE being incapable of staffing a reliable service or the long practice (on the orders of successive governments) of hiking fares on Crosscountry to avoid having to deal with the fact that there isn't enough capacity on the trains (whoever thought that replacing seven car trains with four car ones running more frequently was a good idea?)

Railways in most cases are owned & run by private companies, the tax payer provides a subsidy but its not for just for wages.

They don't need public support at all, unless you wish to clap for them? ... that'll pay the bills.

The govt don't want a pay settlement.. at least not one that is near the rate of inflation or it sets the bar for other sectors.

So perhaps look at where the blame really lies?

The government has certainly got a political agenda. That's why they added a load of unacceptable conditions to the offer made the other day. I've seen one senior manager in First Group say that he would be embarrassed to put that to the workforce. The workers don't have a political agenda, they just want their wages to keep up with the cost of living and to retain the right to limit the time they have to spend away from their families.

That inflation argument got debunked on another thread. The current inflation rate has been caused by gas production not keeping up with demand (initially because of the post-pandemic unlocking, later because of sanctions against Russia).

Funny how the FTSE100 CEOs getting an average increase of 23% apparently doesn't cause inflation, that's allegedly the fault of those evil Marxist workers...

If you go to the back of your wardrobe you might encounter a fawn called Mr Tumnus.

See, I can repeat fiction too...

Do you not think the core customer working patterns is impacting demand in SE which has seen biggest drops as per pp.

Higher earners who used to commute more are now not as much post pandemic. This is the latest I can find but still post pandemic restrictions.

‘Hybrid and homeworking increased by income bracket. More than a third (38%) of workers earning £40,000 or more hybrid worked between 27 April and 8 May 2022, meaning they both worked from home and travelled to work in the latest week.

Workers in this income group were the only ones for whom hybrid working was the most common working pattern. They were also more likely than other income groups to work from home exclusively.’

Pent up demand suggests they want to commute as much as they did pre pandemic but can’t due to your list, but many people prefer it due work life balance / increased wellbeing and quicker.

www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/ishybridworkingheretostay/2022-05-23

If they stop to think for a minute they will realise without these strikes the service will get worse, not improve.

Exactly the same when Austin Rover used to strike every other day. Cross that line at your peril sadly

strike!

Why will the service get worse?

Yes the NHS provides taxis on Christmas Day. Not to get home on Christmas Eve.

And as I have said, I support the strike but not if it means my kids can’t get home for Christmas. I don’t view that as just being inconvenienced actually.

We use public transport a lot as a family, my kids don’t have cars.