Current Affairs Rail strikes

[Charro]

As mentioned previously, the problem is not so much with train drivers (we can get an Uber if needsbe) but with border control staff, who are due to strike over Christmas. It's widely expected that a great many flights over that period will be cancelled as a result.

I'm paraphrasing, but the communication the wife has had from the unions is that it's all about pay. They've never shown any interest in staffing or recruitment into the field, which is one reason she's gone from being pro the industrial action to against it.

That's a pretty big leap to make tbh.

Two-thirds of nurses leaving NHS are under 45, research shows

Under 45s now make up two thirds of all nurses leaving the NHS in the last year, research from the King's Fund has shown.

www.nursinginpractice.com

Nurses are leaving due to burnout and fatigue. I've mentioned before on here that the NHS is a brutal employer, not so much because of the pay (which is certainly not great, but nurses know that before joining) but the work style that staff go through. Many will have to do unsociable shifts and the rotas are highly irregular, both of which make it hard to have any kind of social life. Then add in the stress that comes from the NHS not being equipped to do what we ask of it, and many decide that there are better ways to spend time.

It's cliche to say that many nurses enter the profession to make a difference, but that is largely the case. The nature of the sector means it's largely based on years worked, so by the time people leave they're earning more than they ever had before, yet it's still not enough to put up with the lifestyle attached to it. My wife worked in ICU for a bit, for instance, and you'd never get nurses over 40, just because it's so hard mentally.

Border control staff deserve a better deal. Not had a pay rise in a decade, poor working conditions with an increasingly challenging working environment.

When you ask for a 10% increase, with job security and get back an offer of 2% and nothing else the government staff no option due to take industrial action.

Sorry you're inconvenienced, we're all inconvenienced but how else are people supposed to put pressure on the government to get better working conditions?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Where do you have to take your passport, the moon?

Please tell me it’s not somewhere in London Ffs ?‍

It's Norwich. Yes, I could take a bus, which would mean taking a whole day off of work (incidentally, this has unnerving hints of asking hungry people why they don't just cook baked beans)

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Border control staff deserve a better deal. Not had a pay rise in a decade, poor working conditions with an increasingly challenging working environment.

When you ask for a 10% increase, with job security and get back an offer of 2% and nothing else the government staff no option due to take industrial action.

Sorry you're inconvenienced, we're all inconvenienced but how else are people supposed to put pressure on the government to get better working conditions?

I have no opinion on whether they deserve more money or not. That's between them and their employer. I just ask that they don't mess up other people when they're making their claims. There is something in the region of 30 million working people in the UK, of which about 6.5 million are in a union. So maybe ask some of the 24 million how they get better pay and conditions without downing tools and inconveniencing other people.

 

[larrygobfiend]

It's Norwich. Yes, I could take a bus, which would mean taking a whole day off of work (incidentally, this has unnerving hints of asking hungry people why they don't just cook baked beans)

Do you own a laptop? Maybe you could do some work on the bus perhaps?

I’m so dumbfounded by your sense of entitlement that I’m not sure if you’re taking the Arthur Bliss or not..

I know you won’t be arsed, but I find it all really disappointing coming from you.

 

[Charro]

I have no opinion on whether they deserve more money or not. That's between them and their employer. I just ask that they don't mess up other people when they're making their claims. There is something in the region of 30 million working people in the UK, of which about 6.5 million are in a union. So maybe ask some of the 24 million how they get better pay and conditions without downing tools and inconveniencing other people.

Would you be in favour of taking away the right to strike then?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Would you be in favour of taking away the right to strike then?

I'm not advocating banning anything, merely that I don't agree with it as a negotiating method (for all that it is clearly effective for the minority).

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Do you own a laptop? Maybe you could do some work on the bus perhaps?

I’m so dumbfounded by your sense of entitlement that I’m not sure if you’re taking the Arthur Bliss or not..

I know you won’t be arsed, but I find it all really disappointing coming from you.

It's laughable that being able to do one's job is branded as a sense of entitlement, yet people actively obstructing one from doing it is seen as right on and not selfish whatsoever. As Oscar Wilde said, unselfishness is leaving other people's lives alone. These strikes are fundamentally not doing that. The customer isn't to blame for any pay dispute between employer and employee, yet they're the ones that are being made to suffer. It's not right.

 

[ArtetaMoney]

I am surprised that the unions have opted to go straight for strikes, rather than trying to negotiate without any disruption. They're missing a trick.

 

[Hickson9]

It's laughable that being able to do one's job is branded as a sense of entitlement, yet people actively obstructing one from doing it is seen as right on and not selfish whatsoever. As Oscar Wilde said, unselfishness is leaving other people's lives alone. These strikes are fundamentally not doing that. The customer isn't to blame for any pay dispute between employer and employee, yet they're the ones that are being made to suffer. It's not right.

My pay went up by 3% this year, after a pay freeze last year and a decade of ever decreasing pay before that.

Pay at my level is worth something like 25% less of what it was at the start of Tory rule.

I haven't gone on strike for the entirety of that time and the Government just keep reducing pay every year.

If my Union voted for it, would you disagree with me finally withdrawing my labour after 12 years of massively reduced pay, in order to protect my families living standards?

 

[Hickson9]

I am surprised that the unions have opted to go straight for strikes, rather than trying to negotiate without any disruption. They're missing a trick.

You're joking, right?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

My pay went up by 3% this year, after a pay freeze last year and a decade of ever decreasing pay before that.

Pay at my level is worth something like 25% less of what it was at the start of Tory rule.

I haven't gone on strike for the entirety of that time and the Government just keep reducing pay every year.

If my Union voted for it, would you disagree with me finally withdrawing my labour after 12 years of massively reduced pay, in order to protect my families living standards?

I wouldn't object to anyone stopping working for their employer and looking for better work. Why would I?

 

[Hickson9]

I wouldn't object to anyone stopping working for their employer and looking for better work. Why would I?

I could go and get paid 25K/30K more in today's market but I'm a public servant and genuinely work for the public good.

Recruitment and retention is a massive problem and a huge part of why our public services are falling over.

What you are advocating for in people leaving is already proving disastrous. It's a really stupid thing to say to honest.

Plus - you didn't answer my question.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I could go and get paid 25K/30K more in today's market but I'm a public servant and genuinely work for the public good.

Recruitment and retention is a massive problem and a huge part of why our public services are falling over.

What you are advocating for in people leaving is already proving disastrous. It's a really stupid thing to say to honest.

Plus - you didn't answer my question.

I don't agree with strikes, I think I've made that clear. It's deliberately screwing over customers in the hope that that matters more to the employer than the employee.

We're in an extremely tight labour market, so if you can't secure what you think you deserve then maybe your expectations are out of whack.

That's how the non-unionised workforce does things.

 

[ArtetaMoney]

You're joking, right?

Yes, mate. It is obvious (to most) that the unions are striking as a last resort.

Public sector pay has been on its arse for years, the strikes are a result of that; and not of people being greedy.

 

[Hickson9]

I don't agree with strikes, I think I've made that clear. It's deliberately screwing over customers in the hope that that matters more to the employer than the employee.

We're in an extremely tight labour market, so if you can't secure what you think you deserve then maybe your expectations are out of whack.

I'm going to kindly presume you are deliberately misunderstanding the point.

I will say it again. People are already leaving and it is proving disastrous right across the public sector.

There is no way to provide a good service with ever worsening pay.

Are you happy with the state of public services?

Also, I can't negotiate my own pay offer. Government sets it centrally.