All feminists should support this train strike

[Pitpatwaddlepat]

The train strike today is about the axing of a huge number of customer service and station staff jobs, as well as getting rid of all ticket offices by 2025.
We are already concerned about the safety of women on our streets. Now they are proposing that one of the places where women are most vulnerable will be unstaffed. It's already scary enough travelling after dark in London. Imagine trying to do so with no station staff to call on if you're afraid or unsafe.

This is not to mention that removing station staff and ticket offices will also disproportionately affect other vulnerable groups such as those with learning difficulties, English as a second language, those with physical disabilities etc. People with physical disabilities need a clear point of contact with a staff member on entry to the station to confirm that the train is accessible and request assistance if needed.
People with learning difficulties and those without a strong command of written English may struggle to use an unfamiliar ticket machine without support.

Now they are proposing that one of the places where women are most vulnerable will be unstaffed.
train stations are not “one of the places where women are most vulnerable”

Machines are probably better for those with English as a second language. They may even have other language options built in. In the train stations in Europe i always use the machines rather than trying to converse with someone directly when it's loud and we can't understand each other.

I agree absolutely OP.

im disgusted at the boot licking lack of support for this. Here and elsewhere.

Now they are proposing that one of the places where women are most vulnerable will be unstaffed.

That's something I've never even considered tbh.
I'd imagine women travelling by train are far more vulnerable in the train itself?
I know if the train is empty and I'm sat and there's just one solo bloke, it always makes me a bit wary.

Hm. Torn between agreeing and bristling at being told what ‘all feminists’ should do.

But they're not making them unstaffed? The staff will still be available, but will be on the concourse and will be much more visible and in a better position to help those who need assistance than stuck behind a screen in a ticket office. i live in London. They closed all the tube ticket offices years ago and moved the staff out to the concourse. I don't feel in the least bit unsafe travelling by tube at night.

Nice lecture telling 'all feminists' what they should do.

As your post about people with disabilities. The service varies from awful to non existant anyway and has for as long as I can remember.

Agree Op. Wish my own TU was as strong as the RMT.

Ticket machines often has a button which changes the language. Much easier than a person! I think trying to prevent ticket machines is just halting progress.

I agree with this.

The strikes are simply that the rail workers - some of whom earn well above average the uk salary - want pay rises. And that they don't want to lose their jobs which tbh is an inevitable part of the move towards automation that is happening in every sector and every country in the world.

The OP's post reads to me like someone has sat down and said to themselves "let's try to get all those silly little women to support this by shoe horning in some feminist stuff. They won't know any better."

Eh? Not all of us find London ‘scary’ just because it happens to get dark at night.

Yes exactly. Bit ridiculous to argue that they all need pay rises so that disabled people will feel less alone at the station. If they truly were prioritising disabilities they'd have done much more over the years.

Don’t tell me what to think.

Nor me.

All feminists should be assumed to be intelligent enough to make their own decisions regarding whether or not to support a strike.

I think you're confusing the tube strike in London (where all the ticket offices were closed ages ago, for better or worse) with the national rail strike, which is partly about closing ticket offices but mostly about wider concerns.

absolute nonsense from the OP, clutching at straws to try to justify the unjustifiable.

Yeah, lets stop working mothers getting to their jobs, because feminism. Oh please.

Exactly

The majority of violence against women is domestic related and happens at home.

By supporting the strike, you're forcing more people to work from home and hence cause more risk to happen.

I don't feel at risk getting the train.

Where’s the solidarity. No wonder this country is fucked.

Fuck the strikers. They aren’t doing it for safety. They are doing to to inflate their salary.

me either

I agree OP. My day has been completely disrupted by this and yes, it was annoying. But this needs to happen. Not enough people seem to be supportive of the railway workers. They are being treated terribly.