Rail industry preparing for national strikes

[mpthomson]

Sad thing is all of this could have been completely avoided if people (including many rail staff btw) hadn't voted for the clown in 2019 just to get Bre*it done....

Given the RMT action in Scotland against an SNP (and therefore fairly left wing) government, what makes you think the situation would be any different if Labour were in power? There's no way they would ever agree to a 10% pay rise either, the money simply isn't there and there's no love lost between the very far left Labour leadership and the more Centrist Starmer.

 

[yorkie]

It isn't. What the RMT seem unable (or unwilling) to acknowledge is that a vast number of their members are only in the union for the benefit of their local reps should they find themselves in need of their services. The 1970s socialist nutjob beliefs of the leadership and their relentless political nonsense are, frankly, an embarrassment to a lot of members, and plenty would go elsewhere if only there was a viable alternative. How many people can be bothered with branch meetings, for example? Cuba Garden Party, anyone? No, didn't think so.

Very well said.

Of course, all of this must irritate the union and certain more active members enormously, but the reality is that the RMT needs their members' money. They could boot out all those who aren't willing to regularly attend branch meetings, but the organisation would very quickly become a rather niche club.

Exactly. I am sure most union members don't really agree with their militant stance, and I wish more people would take a stand against them. There is a gap in the market for a sensible union who are not full of extremists.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 May 2022 ==

It just sounds like a just another opportunistic threat of strike against a weak government. Just what the public need after Covid and during a cost of living crisis, national rail strikes! Sometimes, I wonder whether rail unions actually live in the same world as the rest of us.

The RMT have always been in a different world.

 

[Bantamzen]

Well, I’m not an RMT member, so no. For about the millionth time of repeating, if the government can afford to give 1m NHS staff a pay rise including high earners, including many who don’t actually do “front line” jobs, there’s money for 80,000 odd RMT members (not all of whom work on the railway of course). Plus the dispute isn’t just about pay.

That isn't how public finances work, there is a finite amount of cash knocking about & once its gone its gone. If you are publicly financed, you are competing with all the other departments for the money, some will gain and some will lose. So unless there is a massive tax rise or Sunak finds the magic money tree, this is how its going to be for some time. And as such expectations should match reality, especially where your area is ripe for cuts to generate savings.

Again including the wretched NHS then.

It also appears you also escaped your notice that the industries that continued operating weren’t propped up as some act of benevolence to their employees and none of that was under the control of front line staff in those industries.

And what would have happened to you guys if the TOCs weren't propped up? Yep, you would have been furloughed like the people you seem to want to tax more to pay for your wage increases.

The venom on here directed at rail staff who are daring to stand up for themselves is extraordinary, with many of you claiming to be union members yourselves and (ironically) staunchly anti Tory. By attacking other modestly paid workers while Sunak etc. are laughing all the way to the bank (and making a shower of governing the country), the Tories have clearly got certain people right where they want them.

Of course the real issue here (as we have seen in many posts up thread) is that many forum members seem have thinly veiled contempt for rail-staff and their unions. No change there, then!

You know the worst way to gain support is to play the victim card. Of course people are going to get angry, some (like me) will find it more difficult to get around, some will see their businesses taking a knock just when they were hoping to start recovering from the last two years. But most of all a lot of don't even have a prospect of a pay rise under current circumstances, and perhaps couldn't even afford to strike even if the option were there.

Quite a few in favour of action on here seem to be lapping up the prospect of taking on the government, and making potential strikes sound like some kind of ideological battle that we should be all bleary eyed and grateful for. The public I'm sorry to say don't see it that way, and you'd better learn to deal with that when the disruption starts to bite.

 

[Bumper]

Don't leave yourself in the position of not being in a union. See it as a personal insurance policy to be used in times of need when you have difficulties with your employer.

As I know from experience your company can have the most thorough, comprehensive employee protection policies in the world, but it doesn't mean things won't go wrong. Look at the dispute about bullying at Green Park and Euston LU stations for example.

Thank you for that response. It’s the sensible voices like yours that really tip me towards just sucking it up, staying in and doing the strike. It’s just a shame it’s come to this really, and that the union leadership are just so unappealing.

 

[ar10642]

Basically you want your cake and eat it. Joining the union purely to take but not to give. I hope this is a troll post mate. I can’t imagine anything worse than colleagues losing money while you go into work, maybe a cheeky rest day and you’re still going to get the pay rise they earned. Mad.

Edit: every single benefit you enjoy now is because a strong union. I come across as crass because I don’t agree with the behaviour. If you want to DM me you’re welcome to.

Basically you want your cake and eat it. Joining the union purely to take but not to give. I hope this is a troll post mate. I can’t imagine anything worse than colleagues losing money while you go into work, maybe a cheeky rest day and you’re still going to get the pay rise they earned. Mad.

Edit: every single benefit you enjoy now is because a strong union. I come across as crass because I don’t agree with the behaviour. If you want to DM me you’re welcome to.

This sort of coercion and emotional blackmail is why I would never join a union and probably never work in unionised industry.

I doubt the pay rise you "earned" is coming, all that is coming is service cuts and compulsory redundancies if this ends up being an all summer long strike. People will just switch to alternatives, revenue will be down even further, cuts will be made.

I just hope a sensible negotiation and compromise happens but it doesn't sound like anybody wants one.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 May 2022 ==

It just sounds like a just another opportunistic threat of strike against a weak government. Just what the public need after Covid and during a cost of living crisis, national rail strikes! Sometimes, I wonder whether rail unions actually live in the same world as the rest of us. Unfortunately the great majority of us can't hold the country to ransom when things get tough. I am sure that when the government dangles some pieces of silver at the unions, it'll all go away until the next time. I have absolutely no sympathy for any proposed strikes, I'll use the car, bus or plane and won't feel bad when the rail industry suffers job losses because no one uses them anymore.

This government might be unpopular right now but it is not weak. With an 80 seat majority and no election in sight it can do what it wants.

 

[Spartacus]

Coal and biomass combined can produce a maximum of around 9GW of power. UK energy demand typically fluctuates between 25GW and 40GW (depending on weather, time of year and similar). At the time of writing UK energy demand is 34GW of which 1.6GW is coming from biomass. There is no coal being used (and indeed hasn't been since early this month). Currently we're getting 9GW from gas, 5GW from nuclear, 15GW from wind and 2GW from solar (I'm rounding figures so they won't be summing properly, treat them as an illustration). In the coldest part of winter it would get tricky if the biomass and coal power stations weren't available. But certainly at this time of year it's not likely to be a particularly significant issue.

You can see this information for yourself here: https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

If they're not burning any of it there must be a ruddy great stockpile of it building up at Ratcliffe then, almost 20 days without burning any according to Sheffield Uni, I don't know if that's strategic or related. Does anyone pass regularly to confirm?

 

[Goldfish62]

By attacking other modestly paid workers while Sunak etc. are laughing all the way to the bank (and making a shower of governing the country), the Tories have clearly got certain people right where they want them.

Of course the real issue here (as we have seen in many posts up thread) is that many forum members seem to have a thinly veiled contempt for rail-staff and their unions. No change there, then!

With you all the way about Sunak and the "government". I find it incredible that Sunak was popular merely for handing out payments for people to lie on their sofas on furlough when he had absolutely no choice. People really are superficial.

In considering some of the views on this forum you have to recognise that outside London and a couple of major conurbations voting patterns indicate that England is fundamentally a right-wing country.

Contrarily, while some of the more extreme views may be unrepresentative of the non-rail public, there are also some views on here from staff that exhibit a victim mentality and how hard done by they are all the time. I also don't think that is representative of railway employees in general. As one said to me the other day,
"I realise I'm better off than a lot of people, but I just want a bl**dy pay rise. I'm not expecting 10%, just something. If I don't get one this year when will I?"

 

[quantinghome]

I’d be really interested in anybody’s thoughts or advice on what action to take after this strike announcement. I’m really torn about what to do.

I joined Network Rail 4 years ago and decided to join the RMT as it seemed to be widely recommended by sensible people as the correct decision to make to protect me should anything happen with the company. I’d not been in a unionised industry before, or been a member of a union and so my only exposure to the RMT was Bob Crow and the Tube Strikes from the news.

We’re now clearly in the situation that the membership has overwhelmingly voted for strike action that I believe (possibly erroneously) will be massively counterproductive and lead to a ruinous confrontation with a government who are desperate for a bogeyman to be able to pin things on. Obviously the members want to go on strike and it’s a valid ballot so they shall go on strike. I just can’t see it ending well and my conscience is telling me that it would be wrong to go on strike, both for me personally and for most employees of the company.

So my options as I see it are to stay in the union and go on a strike that I think is wrong, or leave the union now and do not participate in this industrial action. I understand that if I leave the union I will be unable to rejoin at a later date in my railway career. What I am concerned about is the reputation that unions have for ugly behaviour towards people that don’t go along with strikes and the like and also whether I will come to regret not having the protection of the union at a later date. So I have a couple of questions:

How true are the rumours of victimisation of those not participating in industrial action, with respect to the RMT? Or is that some fantasy 1970s thing that I have stuck in my head?

What am I truly giving up if I leave the union? The policies of Network Rail seem quite robust and I don’t see my immediate management as being particularly antagonistic from my admittedly short time on the railway. I am aware that these strong HR policies may only be there because of the existence of a strong union and that’s one of the reasons I’m struggling with this decision.

Clearly there is no definitive answer to either of those questions but I’m interested to hear the opinions of people on these boards. I’m trying to make the most pragmatic decision for me and my family whilst also not shafting myself for years into the future. Thanks.

I don't think the tone of some of the responses to your post has been super-helpful. You've asked for advice in good faith and it seems that some members have taken it as an opportunity to push their favourite talking points or criticise you unfairly.

My advice is stick with it.

The important point of being in a union is you are making collective decisions. You may agree or disagree with a decision, but ultimately if the vote by members is for strike action, then I would accept the decision has been made and abide by it. These are tricky issues and there will always be disagreements within a union's membership about the best course of action. But there's no reason to quit a union just because you disagree with a particular decision. I imagine it happens all the time. In fact that is surely the whole principle of a union - you discuss things internally then come to a collective decision through a democratic process, which everyone then sticks to. How else does collective bargaining work? Also your views will be respected by your colleagues if they know you're going to stick with them even if you disagree with them on some occasions.

In this particular case, it looks like the aim of voting for strike action is not to go out on strike immediately, but to strengthen the bargaining power the union has in negotiations. Only if those fail would strike action actually take place.

Ultimately you will get more out of a union if you stick with it, taking the rough with the smooth. At the end of the day the union is made up of its members working together to improve your pay and working conditions, and the rail unions have a good track record in achieving this. Your employer may be decent at the moment but times can change, and may do quite rapidly in the next few years, and that's when a union is invaluable.

 

[Dai Corner]

Sad thing is all of this could have been completely avoided if people (including many rail staff btw) hadn't voted for the clown in 2019 just to get Bre*it done....

Didn't RMT recommend members to vote 'Leave'? The 2019 election was almost, in effect, a second referendum so voting Conservative then to ensure it 'got done' should have been the logical thing for them to do?

 

[newtownmgr]

them.

Yet most members voted for strike action. So i guess you might be wrong!

 

[43066]

Exactly. I am sure most union members don't really agree with their militant stance

Most RMT members are ordinary people who just want to do their jobs and get on with their lives.

That isn't how public finances work, there is a finite amount of cash knocking about & once its gone its gone.

Well that *certainly* isn’t how public finances have worked over the past couple of years when the Tories magically found the money to socialise the entire economy. There’s room for a little more of the same!

And what would have happened to you guys if the TOCs weren't propped up? Yep, you would have been furloughed like the people you seem to want to tax more to pay for your wage increases.

But that wasn’t in any way done to benefit the staff, or something they had control over. I suggested a number of ways money could be raised - one of which was simply borrowing a little more.

You know the worst way to gain support is to play the victim card. Of course people are going to get angry, some (like me) will find it more difficult to get around, some will see their businesses taking a knock just when they were hoping to start recovering from the last two years. But most of all a lot of don't even have a prospect of a pay rise under current circumstances, and perhaps couldn't even afford to strike even if the option were there.

Everyone hates the RMT anyway so they aren’t playing for sympathy. The disruption is unfortunate but that’s ultimately a bi product of people exercising their democratic right to withdraw their labour.

Quite a few in favour of action on here seem to be lapping up the prospect of taking on the government, and making potential strikes sound like some kind of ideological battle that we should be all bleary eyed and grateful for. The public I'm sorry to say don't see it that way, and you'd better learn to deal with that when the disruption starts to bite.

I’m not actually one of them as I hope I’ve made clear. I just find the attack on a union representing modestly paid staff utterly depressing as it completely misses the real villains of the piece…

Thank you for that response. It’s the sensible voices like yours that really tip me towards just sucking it up, staying in and doing the strike. It’s just a shame it’s come to this really, and that the union leadership are just so unappealing.

For the sake of an easy life than what’s I’d probably do to be honest. Certainly if I end up being balloted and disagreeing with the result, I will go along with it nonetheless.

Obviously that has to be an individual decision.

This sort of coercion and emotional blackmail is why I would never join a union and probably never work in unionised industry.

If you’re ideologically opposed to the idea of unions - which is fair enough - I certainly wouldn’t suggest working for the railway, indeed.

With you all the way about Sunak and the "government". I find it incredible that Sunak was popular merely for handing out payments for people to lie on their sofas on furlough when he had absolutely no choice. People really are superficial.

In considering some of the views on this forum you have to recognise that outside London and a couple of major conurbations voting patterns indicate that England is fundamentally a right-wing country.

Contrarily, while some of the more extreme views may be unrepresentative of the non-rail public, there are also some views on here from staff that exhibit a victim mentality and how hard done by they are all the time. I also don't think that is representative of railway employees in general. As one said to me the other day,
"I realise I'm better off than a lot of people, but I just want a bl**dy pay rise. I'm not expecting 10%, just something. If I don't get one this year when will I?"

Agreed. I’m a long way from being “left wing” myself .

 

[Drogba11CFC]

At least one of the Drax units is offline for summer maintenance. Biomass (of all types) has provided less than 5% of our electricity in the past month, of which Drax is only a proportion. We have actually exported more than that to Europe in the same time frame. There is plenty of spare capacity in our generation to cope in the event that Drax went off line (but it won’t).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 May 2022 ==



no. It’s a rolling two weeks, ie any announcement can notify strikes 14 days hence.

How soon will an announcement be made? Should I cut my losses and move my holiday forward?

At any rate I'd be home by the 7th.

 

[bramling]

I am proud to say I quit my union (Unison) after their awful behaviour during the pandemic and I have huge respect for people who are prepared to stand up against militant unions who do not have the interests of the people their industry serves at heart.

Regardless of one’s views on the whole thing, I don’t think anyone can say there isn’t a fairly solid mandate for all this.

Unfortunately people are hacked off at the moment, the railway industry is by no means unique in this. I don’t think the RMT are out of step with a significant proportion of members.

This is only a mandate at this point, let’s hope some progress can be made in the meantime. I have to say I’m not hopeful that’s what will happen.

In the meantime we can merely hope that Sue Gray or someone else can manage to land a sufficiently hard punch to get rid of Johnson. Some seriousness in government in place of the sewer show we currently have must surely help things.

 

[Bumper]

I don't think the tone of some of the responses to your post has been super-helpful. You've asked for advice in good faith and it seems that some members have taken it as an opportunity to push their favourite talking points or criticise you unfairly.

My advice is stick with it.

The important point of being in a union is you are making collective decisions. You may agree or disagree with a decision, but ultimately if the vote by members is for strike action, then I would accept the decision has been made and abide by it. These are tricky issues and there will always be disagreements within a union's membership about the best course of action. But there's no reason to quit a union just because you disagree with a particular decision. I imagine it happens all the time. In fact that is surely the whole principle of a union - you discuss things internally then come to a collective decision through a democratic process, which everyone then sticks to. How else does collective bargaining work? Also your views will be respected by your colleagues if they know you're going to stick with them even if you disagree with them on some occasions.

In this particular case, it looks like the aim of voting for strike action is not to go out on strike immediately, but to strengthen the bargaining power the union has in negotiations. Only if those fail would strike action actually take place.

Ultimately you will get more out of a union if you stick with it, taking the rough with the smooth. At the end of the day the union is made up of its members working together to improve your pay and working conditions, and the rail unions have a good track record in achieving this. Your employer may be decent at the moment but times can change, and may do quite rapidly in the next few years, and that's when a union is invaluable.

Thank you very much for this comment. You make a strong and reasonable argument and it’s reassuring to hear when a lot of the discourse, both on here and elsewhere, can be a bit heated. As I said, yours and other comments are doing a good deal to convince me to stick it out and take the hit this time.

 

[Bald Rick]

How soon will an announcement be made? Should I cut my losses and move my holiday forward?

At any rate I'd be home by the 7th.

I wouldn’t move your holiday just yet.

 

[LOL The Irony]

Are you disagreeing that it’s a classic case of cake and eat it?

Yes because it isn't a case of having your cake and eating it. Anyone who thinks it is, is delusional. It's no different to leaving a service like a broadband provider.

(I should add that my point is a union is a service, so you're free to stop using it at anytime and that shouldn't be looked down upon)

No, but you should abide by the democratic mandate of the union (which you take part in) if you’re remaining a part of it. If you don’t want to do so you should leave rather than actively undermining it by strike breaking.

I never said they should or shouldn't do that, merely pointing out that there's nothing wrong with questioning the action taken, something @SignallerJohn can't get his head around.

 

[LowLevel]

How soon will an announcement be made? Should I cut my losses and move my holiday forward?

At any rate I'd be home by the 7th.

The RMT have given every indication that they wish to meet and negotiate first and that if all else fails they're working on a schedule for action Mid June onwards. I wouldn't worry about your holiday.

 

[newtownmgr]

I am proud to say I quit my union (Unison) after their awful behaviour during the pandemic and I have huge respect for people who are prepared to stand up against militant unions who do not have the interests of the people their industry serves at heart.

Yes a union should have the interest of ‘customers’ in mind & they do when fighting against cuts that comprise the safety of all, but more importantly the union should have the interests & livelihoods of its members at heart.

 

[northwichcat]

The important point of being in a union is you are making collective decisions. You may agree or disagree with a decision, but ultimately if the vote by members is for strike action, then I would accept the decision has been made and abide by it. These are tricky issues and there will always be disagreements within a union's membership about the best course of action. But there's no reason to quit a union just because you disagree with a particular decision. I imagine it happens all the time. In fact that is surely the whole principle of a union - you discuss things internally then come to a collective decision through a democratic process, which everyone then sticks to. How else does collective bargaining work? Also your views will be respected by your colleagues if they know you're going to stick with them even if you disagree with them on some occasions.

If hundreds of other people do the same role as yourself and at the same level, then a collective arrangement certainly has benefits. For example, you're not going to your employer and asking for a pay rise to cover the increase in living costs and hoping they don't give your colleague a bigger one. However, union members aren't part of the armed forces fighting Russia in a war. If the vote is for a strike, the members are free to choose whether to forfeit a day's pay or not. The people who shout scum at their colleagues, who can't afford to forfeit a day's pay, are bullies and trade unions that don't clamp down on bullying aren't fit-for-purpose.

 

[High Dyke]

I don't think they will offer such a guarantee. The government are desperate to cut costs, and redundancies are one, relatively easy way of doing so.

And would the RMT members really accept it in lieu of a pay increase, especially given how many of the posts in this thread from railway workers have been highlighting the problems they're facing with rising bills?

If the two sides wanted to, I am sure they could find a compromise. But I sense that neither side is really up for compromising at the moment.

A redundancy package for many would still cost money. Bit of a double edged sword that.

Hopefully meaningful discussions can take place. The important thing is that all sides engage in dialogue to resolve this. If that means a bit of pride swallowing, then so be it.

As has been said before, this isn't just about those workers who, the media suggest (I believe), are all on exorbitant wages; it's also about those lower paid workers in the industry - train cleaners, station cleaners etc. Many of whom are on minimum wages, have little or no occupational sick pay or staff perks. The dispute for many of these has been.ongoing for some time now.

I can only speak from my own perspective, but Network Rail have introduced various initiatives over the years - one of the most recent about line blockages (protection for maintenance staff on track). Yet, despite these things being introduced workers are still being killed or injured, little or nothing changes - apart from the introduction of further measures to mitigate the already flawed processes. Despite a recruitment drive for signallers, a number of areas are still under-resourced - with recruitment quotas being imposed by management. All this does is increase stress amongst current staff and the likelihood of more operational incidents occurring. It's been said before that most staff like to keep a service running, to the point of their own health and well-being suffering.

 

[Towers]

"....trade unions that don't clamp down on bullying aren't fit-for-purpose."

Unfortunately, the inflammatory words and conduct of certain senior figures over the years rather suggests that the RMT don't agree with this viewpoint.

 

[A0]

Point taken - but if people start using the bus, and find it convenient cheap and reliable, then they are not necessarily going to go back to the railways when the strike is eventually settled.

So the longer this "temporary" timetable is in place the more damage it will do to the long term viability of the railway in Scotland.

(Bit in bold) - very possibly, but that's not the same as the claimed hit to the Scottish economy is it ?

And if Scottish Citylink can cover the passenger demands commercially and therefore at lower or no cost to the taxpayer, that's surely a good thing ?

 

[43066]

Yes because it isn't a case of having your cake and eating it. Anyone who thinks it is, is delusional. It's no different to leaving a service like a broadband provider.

A fundamental misunderstanding.

A union isn’t anything like an anonymous broadband service. It’s a democratically controlled organisation comprised of the colleagues that you work with day in day out. If they vote to take strike action, and you undermine them by continuing to work while they are losing money, many of them will be less than impressed. And that can make things difficult when you have to continue to work with them afterwards.

It doesn’t really matter whether people on here agree with that or not, it’s just simple human nature.

 

[RPI]

A fundamental misunderstanding.

A union isn’t anything like an anonymous broadband service. It’s a democratically controlled organisation comprised of the colleagues that you work with day in day out. If they vote to take strike action, and you undermine them by continuing to work while they are losing money, many of them will be less than impressed. And that can make things difficult when you have to continue to work with them afterwards.

It doesn’t really matter whether people on here agree with that or not, it’s just simple human nature.

Thats probably a fair assessment.

Like last time though, I always feel uneasy coming to work despite the union I'm a member of not having balloted, particularly where that union is the "correct" union for my grade too - whether I support the action or not you still get some funny looks.

 

[northwichcat]

With you all the way about Sunak and the "government". I find it incredible that Sunak was popular merely for handing out payments for people to lie on their sofas on furlough when he had absolutely no choice. People really are superficial.

He did have choices. He left announcing furlough to the very last minute. It was announced at the same time Boris ordered hospitality venues to close, so worried employees didn't know what was happening as their employers didn't have time to read the information on furlough, before telling their employees that there'll be no work as the business has to close. Even then he made employers the gate keepers to furlough money, it was all about supporting businesses by ensuring they retained their employees, not about ensuring employees weren't left unable to afford food. Furlough also allowed employers to stop paying employees company money with immediate effect, rather than having to pay them in full while doing consultation and for any notice period.

 

[Towers]

A fundamental misunderstanding.

A union isn’t anything like an anonymous broadband service. It’s a democratically controlled organisation comprised of the colleagues that you work with day in day out. If they vote to take strike action, and you undermine them by continuing to work while they are losing money, many of them will be less than impressed. And that can make things difficult when you have to continue to work with them afterwards.

It doesn’t really matter whether people on here agree with that or not, it’s just simple human nature.

The difference is that this time around, there is an acknowledged nationwide difficulty in meeting the everyday cost of living. If this reaches the strike stage, and I suspect that it will, that will mean that negotiations have already failed and the government aren't giving in. That in turn will likely mean unions asking members to embrace months of not only regular strike action but probably also a continual lack of any overtime. Many folk simply won't wear it, and I'd imagine the numbers attending work regardless as it rumbles on indefinitely will be rather a lot higher than they might normally be expected to be.

 

[SCDR_WMR]

I wasn't surprised by the result, but I do feel that the RMT are walking into a huge 'bear trap' set by the government.

My (cynical) scenario:

RMT have long and bitter dispute with the TOCs, the TOCs cannot negotiate even if they wanted to because the DfT are pulling strings behind the scenes

Public sympathy even if there is any currently completely evaporates, particularly if inflation continues and other workers have to accept below inflation pay rises

Government uses dispute to undermine power of RMT and push through changes, possibly even going as far as 'fire and rehire' using the TOCs as a shield, and to carry out their (government) agenda

Government then completely abandons TOCs in their current format, and we look at renationalisation by stealth, but with the major changes which could have caused a 'national' rail strike/dispute already pushed through.

Government claim to 'have sorted out the railways'

Railway workers have lost income and have nothing to show for it.

I am not trying to make a political statement with this, or look at the rights and wrong, its just how I see it playing out

This is exactly what I expect GBR to do, and it's certainly how regional reps have painted 2023. This is part of the reason some have chosen now to strike as we all know this is coming as part of the cost cutting that is starting with NR

 

[northwichcat]

Thats probably a fair assessment.

Like last time though, I always feel uneasy coming to work despite the union I'm a member of not having balloted, particularly where that union is the "correct" union for my grade too - whether I support the action or not you still get some funny looks.

Quite ironic isn't it? Pay is often at least part of the reason for a strike, yet those who can't afford to strike get victimised by those who can afford to strike.

 

[RPI]

Quite ironic isn't it? Pay is often at least part of the reason for a strike, yet those who can't afford to strike get victimised by those who can afford to strike.

There will be a fair few this time round who not only can't afford to strike, they probably can't afford to work to rule.

Though that's not the point I was making in my previous reply.

 

[bramling]

Sad thing is all of this could have been completely avoided if people (including many rail staff btw) hadn't voted for the clown in 2019 just to get Bre*it done....

It runs deeper than that unfortunately. In 2019 we had a pretty dire choice both in terms of the prospective prime ministers we were offered, and - frankly - the prospective governments. Johnson is but a symptom of all this, albeit a particularly rancid one.

The only recent government which seems to have successfully managed to quietly get on with the job was the 2010-15 coalition, and for whatever reason that government seems to be remembered with disfondness.

It seems there is no decency to be found in politics nowadays. Perhaps our politics is simply reflecting this country as a whole? It certainly feels that way at the moment.