Pension and union membership

[George999]

Hi all

Just a quick question to some who may know. When you start as a trainee, do you immediately join the pension scheme and does contributions differ from TOC to TOC or is it a national pension? Roughly what contribution percentage is it from the employee?

Also is union membership available from start of training or once fully qualified?

Thank you in advance

 

[12guard4]

Union as soon as you join. I've no idea on pensions I'm afraid just pay it. I'm about 40 years from retirement

 

[djsmith200]

message deleted

 

[greatkingrat]

Yes, you should be automatically enrolled into the pension scheme when you join. The contributions will vary somewhat from TOC to TOC depending on whether that particular section of the Railway Pension Scheme has a surplus or a deficit.

 

[George999]

Many thanks for your replies

 

[djsmith200]

would be interested to know rough idea of contributions from people? in my current role i pay 12.7%

 

[whoosh]

I think mine is about 8 or 9%. But there's a funny way of working it out. It isn't 8 or 9% of your salary, it's something like this:

[Your salary - (1.5x state pension)] x the pecentage figure of your part of the scheme.

 

[beavercreek]

Mine is about 10.5% and is matched at 1.5 by my TOC.
It depends if you can afford extra payments but contributing to Brass will may help in keeping you away from the higher tax bracket.
I held back from joining ASLEF till I started with my instructor.

 

[KT530]

Pension from day one.

Would also advise joining your union from day one of training.

 

[Aivilo]

Educate yourself. You don't need a union

 

[dctraindriver]

Educate yourself. You don't need a union

Educate yourself AND join the union. It's worth it for when things do and will go wrong.

 

[WCMLaddict]

Educate yourself. You don't need a union

You must be having a laugh...

Definitely join the union.

 

[Aivilo]

I've been on the railway 23 years and not in the union the last four. I'm doing just fine

 

[richw]

Educate yourself. You don't need a union

Educate yourself AND join the union. It's worth it for when things do and will go wrong.

I'm in another industrys union, and it's under a quid a week, and we get discount at all sorts of places with our membership card. I get more than my quid a week saved in discounts. Not to mention the free will writing as well as the more obvious benefits of a union membership.

 

[ComUtoR]

Educate yourself. You don't need a union

Educate yourself further.

The Union doesn't often benefit the individual directly. When they are involved in incident or various employee problems they can be a godsend.

The benefit of the Union lies in the collective power they hold. Pay deals are negotiated with the Union. Terms and conditions are protected by the Union. The industry is constrained by the Union. Take a look at the DOO threads. Without the Union that would have been implemented, not negotiated, not anything; just implemented.

You may not be in the Union but you are benefiting from their efforts. This is the first job I have ever had where I get a pay rise every year. That, in part is down to there being an Union. They are also part of the pension consultation process, push for increased establishments, agree and help protect AAW policies etc. etc.

Join or not. It is 100% your decision but the Union do a very good job for the industry and within each individual TOC.

 

[Rover]

I bet those not in the union still accept the pay rise negotiated by the union!

 

[greatkingrat]

I've been on the railway 23 years and not in the union the last four. I'm doing just fine

My house hasn't been burgled the last four years, but I still pay the insurance.

 

[Raul_Duke]

Educate yourself. You don't need a union

Two people doing the same job f**k up. Ones in the Union, ones not.

Who will management go to town on?

 

[Abpj17]

Two people doing the same job f**k up. Ones in the Union, ones not.

Who will management go to town on?

It ought to be the same if the skills, experience, circumstances are identical.

It's the other half which is relevant - who will the union throw their weight behind?

 

[Lemmy99uk]

I bet those not in the union still accept the pay rise negotiated by the union!

They don't have a choice

 

[ComUtoR]

They don't have a choice

No they don't but they are still benefiting from the Union. Irrespective of people choice to join the Union or not still doesn't take away the fact it is because of the Union that we are benefiting from yearly rises and semi decent terms and conditions.

I shudder to think what my terms and salary would be without the Union involvement. Imagine if each Driver had to negotiate their own wage each year based on their KPIs and annual appraisal.

 

[6Gman]

I've been on the railway 23 years and not in the union the last four. I'm doing just fine

Fine. Your choice.

And then something goes wrong ...

 

[VWCampervanman]

Whether or not to join a union is a very personal choice, for me it was the easiest decision I have made in years !

The union is the reason why the salary package is so good, the working hours so reasonable , Im just about to start my Driver training, so put my application in 2 weeks ago. If something was to happen I am reassured that I will have the full support and advice of people who really know the industry behind me, for the price of a few beers per month ( rising scale depending on salary ), I consider it money well spent .

 

[djsmith200]

YOU are the union