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[Lizzie Zoom]

So the unions have decided to have their members come out on strike tomorrow.

After hearing various reports about rail workers current salaries I have found this:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/61840077#:~:text=Rail%20construction%20and%20maintenance%20operatives,and%20tram%20drivers%20%2D%20%C2%A359%2C189

So as the majority of the population, who are on a average wage far lower than railway staff, are fighting higher living costs these unions believe their members are hard done by.  The industry has survived over the last two years by way of multi-billion pound injections of cash by the U.K. Government.  But these workers still want a 7% increase across the board.

I really wonder what is going on.  Do they realise that this action could scare away the increased passenger numbers witnessed post-pandemic, but well short of the numbers before?  Do they think this will help them in their cause of keeping old, and expensive, railway practices going when the railway companies cannot improve financial viability by letting them do so?

Perhaps this strike will lead to an outcome similar to that experienced by the coal miners 40 years ago. In my opinion, it is plain stupidity and greed and will piss off the very people that railway workers depend on; the passengers, just at a time when they are trying to keep sane over vastly increased costs of a rail ticket.  The Government will also be pissed off and could really bring down an axe on any further support

But, what do you all, or importantly, the younger regular users of the railways in your families, think about all this?

[Doctor Gollum]

Unions are just a bunch of greedy entitled leftie c unts.

[TheBoy]

They can strike as much as they like, as its a plausible excuse for my company to cough up the taxes for driving into central London .  And I won't be able to go into my official office if the trains ain't running, what a shame

[Lizzie Zoom]

Unions are just a bunch of greedy entitled leftie c unts.

Now that I will totally agree with you on DG as they certainly are!

What makes me laugh is how the Union bosses still come out to the press and talk in a really thick way.  With their working class accents, they try and sound sophisticated by using “serious” words to try and make themselves appear educated and clever, instead of talking normally in the way they would in any normal situation.  Maybe a silly point to bring up, but it is so noticeable as these people have been doing that certainly since the 1970’s, the era that they really belong to!

But it would all be a joke if only it was not a very serious, disruptive and catastrophic situation that is going to cause millions much distress and inconvenience, wasting millions of pounds per day for our economy. All because they believe their higher than average salaries need a 7% boost!

Bastards!!

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

Sack the lot of them - and if the nurses,doctors, parking attendants and postmen join in as they are threatening to - sack the lot of them as well.
Mick wotsisname sees a chance to return to his utopia of the 19070,s. Stick him behind bars.

[STEMO]

Sack the lot of them - and if the nurses,doctors, parking attendants and postmen join in as they are threatening to - sack the lot of them as well.
Mick wotsisname sees a chance to return to his utopia of the 19070,s. Stick him behind bars.

Yes, all of that seems reasonable 

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

Of course it is. TB wold shoot the lot of them in front of their families. 

[Andy B]

..... All because they believe their higher than average salaries need a 7% boost!

Bastards!!

I've no idea what terms & conditions etc they're  fighting for other than the percentage  pay rise they're asking for ..... but how many here are paid anything like the average wage? There are some pretty thirsty/expensive cars here for an average wage.
Lizzie .. should we all be on the average wage of around £30k.
https://www.google.com/search?q=uk+average+salary&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB804GB804&oq=uk+aver&aqs=chrome.0.35i39j69i57j0i131i395i433i512j0i395i433i457i512j0i395i512l2j0i512l4.3360j1j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

We've just been offered 4.5% plus some other bits

[Lizzie Zoom]

..... All because they believe their higher than average salaries need a 7% boost!

Bastards!!

I've no idea what terms & conditions etc they're  fighting for other than the percentage  pay rise they're asking for ..... but how many here are paid anything like the average wage? There are some pretty thirsty/expensive cars here for an average wage.
Lizzie .. should we all be on the average wage of around £30k.
https://www.google.com/search?q=uk+average+salary&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB804GB804&oq=uk+aver&aqs=chrome.0.35i39j69i57j0i131i395i433i512j0i395i433i457i512j0i395i512l2j0i512l4.3360j1j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

We've just been offered 4.5% plus some other bits

It depends what job and position / responsibilities people have.  The railway workers are already at levels above the average, with the train drivers at £59,000+.  That seems fair enough to me so why do they expect more, of at least 7%?  NHS staff must dream of an average starting at £33,000.

4.5% that you have been offered Andy seems ok, but it does depend on what you and the responsibilities you have.  Us pensioners will just have to expect what comes

[Doctor Gollum]

Average and starting salaries are very different things. Likewise basic and with/without shift pay and allowances.

Starting salary for an. Airport Security Officer at Gatwick is circa £19,000, yet they are advertising it as upto £32,000.

To qualify for that, you get your roster two weeks ahead and the Shift Pay is over a grand a month. Which isn't in the advert.

[Mister Rog]

I think that it is political just as much as about pay etc. Another dig at ousting the Conservatives. And, the Union needs to be seen flexing their muscles.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Unions have to create issues and stir the pot or they fail to have a reason to exist.

From what I am told by a number of rail workers, they are being offered reasinable pay increase but, are being asked to come into the 21st century for certain operating practices where technology is better and safer. As usual, they don;t want to (as they have always done on the railways)

[Andy B]

without Unions they'd still be sending kids up chimneys

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

Thats possibly true, and there can still be a place for them now in certain circumstances.
However, the leader of the union going on strike today is a member of the Communist party and straight out of the Arthur Scargill school of union leaders.
I.E extremely far left, and has very few brain cells between his ears.
He is trying to fight an old fashioned class war, when most people dont even think in terms of class any more.
He is no doubt trying to bring down the Tory Government and dreams of destroying Capitalism altogether.
I suspect that the Govt. are going to allow this to run on until in inflicts misery on millions of people who end up very angry indeed.
Then they will have the perfect excuse to bring in new legal restrictions on union activity, with the backing of the public, and Labour too scared to protest too much about it.
I hope when they do this they concentrate on the public sector, because the unions there still have far too much power.

[Doctor Gollum]

Be asked to join two unions at work. Not happening as long as I have a hole in my arse.

Adds upto £42 a month. I would rather spend it on McDonald's Filet O Fish* or add it to my SIPP.

*Possibly the single most hateful thing on their menu