Search results

I personally think it'd be a good idea for ASLEF to sit on these results for a bit rather than announce strike dates straight away. It gives the new government an opportunity to negotiate in good faith, if that fails then it might be an idea to take action. The existing government has said...

In my opinion, drivers like us shouldn't be living to our current wage, we should live to around 80% of our wage, that way over time we can build up enough capital to be able to take part in serious action defending our terms and conditions. Remember what Peter Wilkinson of the DfT said a few...

When this current government was elected, it was blatantly obvious that they wanted to pick a battle with rail unions. I thought the battle would be over DOO/DCO but ultimately it's come down to pay/T&C's/job security. In the past two and a half years, I should think most staff, barring a...

How do we reckon the Sutton Loop compares to a Slade Green rounder? Surely the scenery can't be as depressing as the post-industrial hellscape of Woolwich and the concrete jungle of the Thamesmead estate?

The DfT want to have their cake and eat it. They want the ideology of privatisation with profits to private companies (ROSCOs and TOCs) but the don't want the staff to benefit from competition between TOCs or for their union representatives to be able to negotiate directly with employers When...

What a lot of people forget is that in other careers there's far more options to earn money through promotions/seniority pay, the line of promotion from the driving grade is very limited. A Driver Instructor gets around 5% more salary than a regular Driver, there's typically one DI for every 10...

The BoE's rampant money printing and low interest rates since the last crash has bloated the housing and equities markets to the point where even a slight increase in the base rate could burst the bubble. If the BoE tries to increase rates it may well crash the economy, if they don't it could...

If the instructors all decide they don't want to instruct anymore and hand back their instructor allowances, it'll cause a lot of long-term problems, especially with there being a retirement boom starting at quite a few TOCs.

Thank you all for the opinions on this, I know that these forms are supposed to be only used for monitoring, however when I see certain TOCs setting up quotas, Southern being an example, it does make me question how much pressure HR are under to advance certain candidates to the...

I've recently been considering a change of employer as a qualified train driver and one thing which always appears as part of the application process is an equal opportunities questionnaire. Personally, I tend not to fill them in these days because I don't see what relevance they have to my...

Those PNBs sound dreadful, how on earth are you supposed to eat properly in that amount of time? I guess it must be legal per T&Cs since I don't see any LDR worth their salt signing those off otherwise. One of the best things about train driving from my perspective is that I'm on my own, I...

I'm possibly being a bit cynical here but would it be within the realms of possibility that the comment was made to try and increase the likelihood of industrial action? At the end of the day, a large rail strike would remove parties in Downing Street and May election losses from the tabloid...

That's an interesting development, if TOCs start putting deals through then those which don't will no longer be able to hide behind the DfT.

I presume this is a very recent development? As recently as last week, I was under the impression that the DfT was preventing TOCs from doing exactly that, except those which are devolved to some extent such as TfW. Certainly the impression I have been getting is that the government views this...

£17 billion on Covid loan losses, £5 billion of which is estimated to be fraudulent and the government is happy to write the whole lot off. £37 billion on a Test and Trace system which offered very little tangible benefit. Yet a pay rise for key workers who kept the country moving throughout...

An easy way to solve the problem would be to bring Sundays fully inside and pay them at time and a half. Those who work huge amounts of overtime will be happy due to the extra income as will those who want Sundays off because they'll be able to get an easier swap. Personally, I'm in favour of...

Historically, it seemed that a lot of the qualified vacancies available at certain TOCs, typically the best paid with the long-distance work, were effectively a reward for keeping a good or clean safety record for a few years. Now there are far fewer qualified vacancies at those TOCs...

I'm personally against the introduction of "B scale" terms and conditions for new joiners, it's a classic industrial relations strategy to divide the workforce. I know that in the case of Protected Staff from the BR days such a system exists, however they spent many years on very low pay which...

I get a strong sense that the DfT want the ability to control much more the operation of the railway but without the increased accountability to the public. Just as with the GTR dispute back in 2015-2016, I get the impression the government will try and use the TOCs, TPE being one of the first...

Thank you all for the replies, I'm going to try and go for Class 1 passenger work and whilst I haven't previously done rest day working, somewhere with a decent rest day agreement would be ideal (I know there's a few places which do 1.5x basic). I havne't tried anywhere for a while though I'd...