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ATW Drivers Strike

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G136GREYHOUND

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There's little public sympathy for people earning 40K and working mid 30 hour weeks in Wales going on strike over relatively small differences in pay with rest of UK. It's not as though ATW Drivers have to buy a house in the SE of a England is it?
ASLEf need to take a reality check
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Only makes my previous comments more valid , seems ASLEF hierarchy have got wrong end of stick whereas locally drivers are happy. Maybe ASLEF are doing things by numbers rather than looking at what the issues actually are?

And your job and union is................? Who cares about public sympathy ?

I suspect there was little sympathy for children forced up chimneys for 2 farthings a week in 1886, 2 Farthings, ungrateful gits, not like they can't sleep 18 to a bed is it, and after all, it's only Wales isn't it, look you, there's tidy, who's coat is that jacket.

Thankfully we have moved on, and thankfully, some of us have a union such as ASLEF
 
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A-driver

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totally agree, and the passengers are the ones that suffer


Sadly they always are in railway disputes. But it's hard for train drivers to stand their ground in disputes with management without disrupting passengers. There isn't anything else drivers can do that will have any impact on management without passengers being affected to. It's the nature of that type of work.
 

455driver

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I do wonder how all these 'misunderstandings' are always in the Companies favour?
Maybe they 'forgot' to put it on the paperwork etc!
 

Gareth Marston

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As one of my colleagues use to say the best place for the Brothers and the senior management team is in a locked room together whilst the rest of us get on with running things without the posturing and BS!
 

FordFocus

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It doesn't matter if you were on 15k, 40k or 80k a year the traveling public don't give a flying fig about what your striking about because it's going to disrupt them.

From what I can gather is the terms were agreed and then Arriva put in another clause....
 

TDK

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There's little public sympathy for people earning 40K and working mid 30 hour weeks in Wales going on strike over relatively small differences in pay with rest of UK. It's not as though ATW Drivers have to buy a house in the SE of a England is it?
ASLEf need to take a reality check

There is never public sympathy for anyone going on strike I really do not see the relevance of how much drivers are paid and the hours they work, here is a comparison within the DB group.

ATW drivers:- £43,868.00
Chiltern:- £51,755
DB Shenker:- £47,000.00
Grand Central:- £48,425
Cross Country:- £57,674

This may have some clout on the feelings of drivers locally. The companies above are not based in the SE either!
 

313103

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There is never public sympathy for anyone going on strike I really do not see the relevance of how much drivers are paid and the hours they work, here is a comparison within the DB group.

ATW drivers:- £43,868.00
Chiltern:- £51,755
DB Shenker:- £47,000.00
Grand Central:- £48,425
Cross Country:- £57,674

This may have some clout on the feelings of drivers locally. The companies above are not based in the SE either!

Just to add
Lorol (former Silverlink) £55,288.
Lorol (former Greater Anglia) £50,000.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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I suspect there was little sympathy for children forced up chimneys for 2 farthings a week in 1886, 2 Farthings, ungrateful gits, not like they can't sleep 18 to a bed is it, and after all, it's only Wales isn't it, look you, there's tidy, who's coat is that jacket.

Have you been listening to the Monty Python iconic "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch again....:D
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Thankfully we have moved on, and thankfully, some of us have a union such as ASLEF

Sung, no doubt, by the ASLEF male voice choir to the melody of "What a friend we have in Jesus"....:D
 
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A-driver

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Looks like something about working hours going by the news snippets. Although I hope they're working a fair amount of hours for that wage!


Why? Generally the going rate for a train driver is about 50k for roughly a 35hour week. Why should Welsh drivers be any different to the rest of the U.K.?
 

Carlisle

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Why? Generally the going rate for a train driver is about 50k for roughly a 35hour week. Why should Welsh drivers be any different to the rest of the U.K.?

It maybe is to do with the vast majority of their trains being considerably shorter formations and all non DOO compared to some other TOCs
 
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A-driver

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It maybe is to do with the vast majority of their trains being considerably shorter formations and all non DOO compared to some other TOCs


What on earth does the length of the train have to do with the amount the driver is paid?!?!?! Are you seriously suggesting we should be paid per coach?! And some of the best paid TOCs are entirely non-DOO.

Not sure you quite understand what train drivers are paid for.
 

Carlisle

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! And some of the best paid TOCs are entirely non-DOO.

Yes they are, but as has been discussed on here before , much of the reason for that may well be down to long distance TOCs having to buy off drivers mileage allowances etc rather than any properly thought out long term plan
 

A-driver

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Yes they are, but as has been discussed on here before , much of the reason for that may well be down to long distance TOCs having to buy off drivers mileage allowances etc rather than any properly thought out long term plan


'Properly thought out long term plan'?! Please do elaborate.
 

G136GREYHOUND

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'Properly thought out long term plan'?! Please do elaborate.


Quite,

plus ARRIVA drivers on the valleys have about 127 stops a day, power, brake, power, brake, power, brake, power......bored yet ?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Have you been listening to the Monty Python iconic "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch again....:D
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Sung, no doubt, by the ASLEF male voice choir to the melody of "What a friend we have in Jesus"....:D

I can try, although I can't sing :

"What a friend we have in ASLEF, or we'd all be deep in s**t, sacked for something like an over-run, forced to drive when half asleep, never get to see our families, can't afford to feed our sheep, treated like the flippin' rest of you, bullied like you flocks of sheep "

works for me, more baritone though I reckon
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Not really as simple as you make it. And no one has any sympathy with anyone doing better than themselves, it's pretty much human nature. Or rather jealousy.

Junior doctors are now being called greedy, well paid, holding us to ransom etc in the press and comments pages. And they used to be portrayed as gods in the press!

Public sympathy will never be won during a strike, especially in sectors likely to cause noticeable disruption to other people's lives. But public sympathy isn't needed-that's proved by the fact that no rail strike has had public sympathy but they still happen and often lead to a 'successful' outcome for those striking.


Indeed, in an offline PM, the poster discussed messaged me saying people in his union are facing redundancy and he had zero sympathy for those who are prepared to take action for better wages and conditions ! Thank God for Tolpuddle courage is all I say
 
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Dieseldriver

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Looks like something about working hours going by the news snippets. Although I hope they're working a fair amount of hours for that wage!

You understand the high levels of concentration involved in train driving and the safety critical nature of the role? The extreme shift work messing up your body clock and resulting in fatigue which can (and has) result in serious incidents? How many hours would you like your train driver to work with pendulum shift patterns as they take the controls of a three hundred ton train containing up to a thousand people?
 
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You understand the high levels of concentration involved in train driving and the safety critical nature of the role? The extreme shift work messing up your body clock and resulting in fatigue which can (and has) result in serious incidents? How many hours would you like your train driver to work with pendulum shift patterns as they take the controls of a three hundred ton train containing up to a thousand people?

OK fair enough, so why the ballot? Are the hours too long at the moment?
 

A-driver

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Do ASLEF members believe that all workers in the UK should receive the same pay for the same type of work regardless of where they live?


That's how it was under BR. You can't really easily do regional pay as you end up with a franchise like east coast or west coast having different pay levels at different depot.
 

HH

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That's how it was under BR. You can't really easily do regional pay as you end up with a franchise like east coast or west coast having different pay levels at different depot.

Except the London Allowances...
 

Gareth Marston

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That's how it was under BR. You can't really easily do regional pay as you end up with a franchise like east coast or west coast having different pay levels at different depot.

But BR hasn't existed for nearly 20 years and the UK hasn't elected a government with a commitment to state ownership for 40 years.
 

A-driver

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Except the London Allowances...


Which still exist at some companies now. But they are a fairly minimal amount compared to the overall salary and don't really make much difference to the cost of living in different areas of the country.

But BR hasn't existed for nearly 20 years and the UK hasn't elected a government with a commitment to state ownership for 40 years.


Irrelevant. I havnt said anything about renationalising the railways. Only pointed out that at no point in recent history have Tain drivers been paid a salary with regional variations.

Plus in the case of Wales, a FGW driver based at Cardiff will be lid the same salary as one based in London. An ATW driver based at Cardiff will be paid less.
 

Gareth Marston

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Which still exist at some companies now. But they are a fairly minimal amount compared to the overall salary and don't really make much difference to the cost of living in different areas of the country.




Irrelevant. I havnt said anything about renationalising the railways. Only pointed out that at no point in recent history have Tain drivers been paid a salary with regional variations.

Plus in the case of Wales, a FGW driver based at Cardiff will be lid the same salary as one based in London. An ATW driver based at Cardiff will be paid less.

Yep that's how the private sector and different companies work :D
 
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