Current Affairs Rail strikes

[ArtetaMoney]

So, what what would you do if you were a rail worker?
Your getting a pay cut this year, and next year and being told you may not actually have a job cause of "modernisation"
Your pension will be messed with.
Your contract changed
Your right to actually appeal or fight any future changes.
Safety of passengers put at risk as only 1 staff member on a train. What happens if a serious incident hits, like a heart attack, fainting etc etc.

Ow putting aside you might need to make other plans for Xmas or find a different means of travel and the fact this probably perturbs you.
As a rail worker, facing the above and probably more, how would you take.that.and what would you do if somebody threatened your livelihood like that?

They'd better not stop the train if that happens, people have got places to go.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

That's literally what you are doing by moaning that you can't go and see family for Christmas.

You want others to suffer all year round whilst carrying out their jobs so you can get a new lynx set.

What a joke. The family in question are my wife's. She's a nurse. I dare say you'd be jacking off if she was on a picket line but if she wants to see her family once or twice a year she's being a self-indulgent Tory. Maybe if the money she lost on the flight ticket to see them meant she had to go to a food bank you'd cum even quicker?

 

[Charro]

Right in thinking these people won’t get paid when they’re in strike?

If that’s true then you can safely assume they’re not just throwing a tantrum like has been suggested.

I’m going on strike in my own place soon. The missed pay will kill me but it’s worth it for the greater good.

 

[Charro]

What a joke. The family in question are my wife's. She's a nurse. I dare say you'd be jacking off if she was on a picket line but if she wants to see her family once or twice a year she's being a self-indulgent Tory. Maybe if the money she lost on the flight ticket to see them meant she had to go to a food bank you'd cum even quicker?

Does this strike really mean you can’t see family?

There’s absolutely no other way for you to see eachother? It’s all relying on the train network?

Can’t go earlier, later, get a coach, a bus, a lift etc?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

So, what what would you do if you were a rail worker?
Your getting a pay cut this year, and next year and being told you may not actually have a job cause of "modernisation"
Your pension will be messed with.
Your contract changed
Your right to actually appeal or fight any future changes.
Safety of passengers put at risk as only 1 staff member on a train. What happens if a serious incident hits, like a heart attack, fainting etc etc.

Ow putting aside you might need to make other plans for Xmas or find a different means of travel and the fact this probably perturbs you.
As a rail worker, facing the above and probably more, how would you take.that.and what would you do if somebody threatened your livelihood like that?

What would I do? I'm a freelancer. If people don't think I'm good value I don't get work. Technology is changing all the time around me in my line of work so, yes, I have to always make sure what I offer is relevant and valuable. My pension is something I control and you lot moan because I've actually done that and got shares.

Regarding the safety on the trains, we have the DLR down here which doesn't have a driver. The whole network must be complete and utter chaos by your reckoning. As it is, I've probably been on a train dozens of times since Covid hit and I haven't encountered a single member of staff in about two years so I can only assume they're copying the DLR as it is.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Does this strike really mean you can’t see family?

There’s absolutely no other way for you to see eachother? It’s all relying on the train network?

Can’t go earlier, later, get a coach, a bus, a lift etc?

The family lives in CZ, so the strikes in question are the border control staff, which suggestions thus far make it highly likely that flights will be cancelled. Yes, we could take a 24 hour coach journey, but I somehow suspect that we wouldn't get a refund from BA on the grounds that because flights might be cancelled we booked a bus instead.

 

[ArtetaMoney]

What a joke. The family in question are my wife's. She's a nurse. I dare say you'd be jacking off if she was on a picket line but if she wants to see her family once or twice a year she's being a self-indulgent Tory. Maybe if the money she lost on the flight ticket to see them meant she had to go to a food bank you'd cum even quicker?

Not sure what you pull the head off it to while your wife is at work, but it's a bit different to my choices.

I have been massively disrupted by the NHS strikes. I've had to be trained to drive ambulances and provide paramedic cover over Christmas, I'll be missing a panto which I've booked with my family, which is my son's first one, and I booked the Lion King staying over in Manchester with my wife which falls on the ambulance drivers strike. I'm not going to lambast the NHS and ambulance drivers because of it, because I'm not a self-absorbed bellend.

I'll get on with it, make rearrangements and do that stuff another time. In the meantime, I will hope that the NHS and ambulance drivers get a better deal as they deserve it.

 

[ArtetaMoney]

The BBC posted this story (they’ve removed it now), it explained how this fella couldn’t go and visit his son in Derby, how his son has autism and the strikes meant that he wouldn’t get to see his son till mid January.

They had to remove the story when someone pointed out that he lives an hour and a half away and he could easily get 2 buses to cover the 90 min journey.

It’s almost like these stories are being used as propaganda to turn the public against the workers striking.

 

[Goat]

What a joke. The family in question are my wife's. She's a nurse. I dare say you'd be jacking off if she was on a picket line but if she wants to see her family once or twice a year she's being a self-indulgent Tory. Maybe if the money she lost on the flight ticket to see them meant she had to go to a food bank you'd cum even quicker?

Sorry to hear this Bruce, its ok me sitting here shouting POWER TO THE PEOPLE when I probably wont get on a train ever again.

If it makes you feel any better my Father in Law who is 70 is currently travelling all over the country giving his all for these people, he misses his Great Grandson a lot.

But im sure thats no consolation to you or your Wife, hope you get something sorted.

 

[NorthernBlue]

View attachment 195391

The BBC posted this story (they’ve removed it now), it explained how this fella couldn’t go and visit his son in Derby, how his son has autism and the strikes meant that he wouldn’t get to see his son till mid January.

They had to remove the story when someone pointed out that he lives an hour and a half away and he could easily get 2 buses to cover the 90 min journey.

It’s almost like these stories are being used as propaganda to turn the public against the workers striking.

It’s my wife’s birthday at the weekend and we were supposed to be getting the train to Newcastle. She loves it there and managed to get it off work (she’s a nurse). So we are exploring other ways of getting there or staying local instead and banking it for another time. It’s crap for her but at no point as she pointed the finger at rail workers.

There’s enough advanced warning for people to make other arrangements. If that’s not possible then of course that’s unfortunate but it’s hardly the end of the world.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Not sure what you pull the head off it to while your wife is at work, but it's a bit different to my choices.

I have been massively disrupted by the NHS strikes. I've had to be trained to drive ambulances and provide paramedic cover over Christmas, I'll be missing a panto which I've booked with my family, which is my son's first one, and I booked the Lion King staying over in Manchester with my wife which falls on the ambulance drivers strike. I'm not going to lambast the NHS and ambulance drivers because of it, because I'm not a self-absorbed bellend.

I'll get on with it, make rearrangements and do that stuff another time. In the meantime, I will hope that the NHS and ambulance drivers get a better deal as they deserve it.

Don't get me wrong, it doesn't bother me too much either way. She hasn't spent Christmas at home since pre-Covid so it's something she's very much looking forward to. Is the prospect of being out a decent whack of money something that can be brushed off?

Re the nurses strike. From the communication she's received, I believe the union are asking for an 18% pay rise. It's bonkers. Even 25% of that would see pay go up 4.5%. Given that there's precisely zero chance that the NHS budget would go up by 4.5% to cover that increase, that would almost certainly mean that staffing would be cut in order to pay those left a higher wage. That's why she's no longer supporting the strikes. It's the stress that does her in. Sure, she'd like to earn more, who wouldn't, but it's the lack of workforce planning that's the problem, and the union aren't (and never do) do anything about that.

Re the ambulance drivers. Pfft like. She had a client the other week who had spinal issues after she fell down the stairs. The missus rung for an ambulance and got the usual hours long wait, and when she rang to check they'd cancelled it and wanted the woman to come in on the bus instead. This went back and forth all night until she finally got in front of a doctor a few days later who was furious that she wasn't seen earlier. So yeah. Deserving of something I guess. Fingers crossed no one gets sick and actually needs care at the moment.

 

[larrygobfiend]

@Bruce Wayne don’t you live in London?
Which airport are you gonna struggle to get to?

 

[ArtetaMoney]

Don't get me wrong, it doesn't bother me too much either way. She hasn't spent Christmas at home since pre-Covid so it's something she's very much looking forward to. Is the prospect of being out a decent whack of money something that can be brushed off?

Re the nurses strike. From the communication she's received, I believe the union are asking for an 18% pay rise. It's bonkers. Even 25% of that would see pay go up 4.5%. Given that there's precisely zero chance that the NHS budget would go up by 4.5% to cover that increase, that would almost certainly mean that staffing would be cut in order to pay those left a higher wage. That's why she's no longer supporting the strikes. It's the stress that does her in. Sure, she'd like to earn more, who wouldn't, but it's the lack of workforce planning that's the problem, and the union aren't (and never do) do anything about that.

Re the ambulance drivers. Pfft like. She had a client the other week who had spinal issues after she fell down the stairs. The missus rung for an ambulance and got the usual hours long wait, and when she rang to check they'd cancelled it and wanted the woman to come in on the bus instead. This went back and forth all night until she finally got in front of a doctor a few days later who was furious that she wasn't seen earlier. So yeah. Deserving of something I guess. Fingers crossed no one gets sick and actually needs care at the moment.

Isn’t all of that down to the lack of resource (personnel and equipment) within the NHS? And one of the main reasons why they are striking, it isn’t solely to gain more money (although that is a big part of it). They want to be properly supported so they can do their job correctly.

I’m pretty sure the ambulance drivers didn’t cancel it so they could go and sit in Maccies.

 

[edge]

Right in thinking these people won’t get paid when they’re in strike?

If that’s true then you can safely assume they’re not just throwing a tantrum like has been suggested.

I’m going on strike in my own place soon. The missed pay will kill me but it’s worth it for the greater good.

We don't get a penny.

 

[catcherintherye]

I'm not party to the negotiations so I have no idea who is to blame or not (incidentally, my wife and many of her colleagues are actually coming to oppose the strikes because of the rhetoric from the nurses union, none of which will actually get to the heart of the problem, which is a lack of staff, not how much they're paid). My point is that the unions always want to punish customers in the hope that the employer cares more about annoyed customers than they do. It's not right. None of this is the customer/end users fault, and yet they suffer all the time, and they'll suffer from the higher pay that will inevitably result from this because the costs will be passed on through higher ticket prices (that are already the highest in Europe).

Mick Lynch has put into the domain what they have been doing, and it's very shady. A 4% pay offer, when theyve lost control of inflation is awful. Ordinary working people have already paid the penalty of inflation as well.

Re your wife, if you increase pay, you will attract more people, who it's actually quite a simple equation. We lose a lot of staff to going abroad. Brexit has been disastrous, so too has been the anti migrant rhetoric (unfortunately now being copied by Starmer). But again, the government seem to think they can take the proverbial and decent people who just put up with it indefinitely.

I dont think any worker on strike is motivated by trying to punish anybody. They have been pushed into a corner, by 10 years of falling wages by economic mismanagement (austerity, Brexit then latterly Truss) which has now also seen inflation. They want to be able to live without having to rely on food banks. Essentially they want some degree of basic dignity.

At some point regarding the rail, or the energy companies, or the water companies, we may need to ask the question if we may benefit from some democratic control over these services, as they have on the continent. Shareholder ownership seems to provide a woeful service, very expensive, but the shareholders always get their payment.

Yet if the people who run these services ask for pay to remain stable in real terms, apparently its them who are the issue. I just dont buy it mate. It's the government.