I agree the railways need modernisation.
One such example.
Sat on a train with filthy tables, strewn with other people's litter?
Union rules prevent on-board people such as the Train Manager from donning a pair of rubber gloves, carrying a black plastic sack and spending a quick five minutes between stops, from clearing the mess.
Apparently it is doing someone else's job, which the unions don't like.
Everyone rigidly has to do their job as per their job description, multi tasking/skilling and initiative isn't allowed.
Sundays are voluntary - it is not a contractual working day. All staff are paid time and a quarter for Sunday working. Even shop workers are not entitled to voluntary Sunday working, nor be paid a premium for it.
The thing is the train manager/conductor is also responsible for tickets and safe operation of the doors and train in general as part of their duties, on top of assisting passengers etc. A lot of train companies had the bright idea of getting rid of their cleaners and are now desperately recruiting more. On some routes if you have a busy train you barely have time to get through one carriage checking tickets and answering queries before you arrive at the next stop, and have to go and operate the doors in a safe manner for passengers. So ok lets add cleaning to their job description (which by the way mild cleaning such as simply taking litter off empty tables and binning is in the job descriptions of some depending on TOC). How much time is being allocated to this task, and how prioritised is it over the other duties? Will each member of staff carry all the equipment with them in addition to ticket machine and traps (all train crew are required to carry a set list of items to be used in an emergency or out of course working, hi vis, relevant working notices, bardic lamp, flags, spit kit for when people spit at you etc) or will it be stowed on all trains for use, where space is already notoriously at a premium?
The reason the union is resistant to this is that companies will happily let you go above and beyond your job role and then use it as a stick to beat you with if anything goes wrong. For instance you could arrive at a station you are due to take a break at but your train is running late due to disruption and you no longer have time to take your break. Some people would say you were being difficult and not 'customer-focused' for insisting you take the break and making your next train depart late. However if you decide to depart on time at the expense of your break and there is an incident afterwards your failure to take your break as outlined in your terms and conditions for the safe operation of trains will be used to hang you out to dry.
Sundays are definitely not voluntary everywhere, sometimes not even the same in the same TOC. Sunday rules can be different for different grades and even different depot groups within the same company.
I am no longer in the RMT nor am I train crew (had enough of that after 10 years) but the strike reasons are valid. If the government had offered them the current deal no strings attached even 6 months ago it probably would have been done and dusted. As it stands they are offering a below inflation pay rise when other tocs got 7.1% no strings attached to essentially make people work more, if you are on a four day shift pattern that could bust on the back of these proposals and go to 5 days a week that's and extra 52 days a year work for minimal gain.
Passenger numbers are supposedly down but the trains are rammed. Also passenger numbers are so low according to the government yet striking also costs hundreds of millions a day? Surely one or the other. The government wants to shut all ticket offices, de-skill grades and cut the workforce. Boris alao says his reforms will result in lower fares for passengers. If you believe that I have a can of Jack Monroe Magic Rinsed Beans to sell you.
The entire system has been rigged for profiteeeing since the end of British Rail which wasn't ideal but it is hard to say this system is much better? A splintered mess geared towards returning dividends to shareholders, the ROSCO system making even more money for essentially nothing and no joined up thinking between TOCs in the interest of passengers. Could immediately save a fortune in executive wages if everything was brought back under the government and ran as a public service, not a private business.
As pointed out, it works on the continent. Succesive UK governments have always been short sighted with regards to the railway unfortunately, one of the essays I wrote for some Rail qualification I did was about how after the electrification of the Heathrow line in the 90s the industry let all the skill and experience of that project drain and be lost through wastage, so when more electrification was comissioned in the 2010s it cost a lot more than it should have in terms of finding and training personnel. Compare that to Germany who have a long term rolling plan of mix and match projects to ensure their workforce has an up to date skill set for any upcoming issues.
One last thing if I hadn't bored you to death by now, rail salaries and conditions are good, but I know plenty of people who are excellent at their jobs who are only still doing it because of that (drivers especially). If they deskill these roles and axe conditions, stagnate or reduce wages then we will end up with another skill drain/shortage because apart from the real rail enthusiasts a lot of them would happily take another job away from the railway if there were comparable terms on offer.
I know I was bored of being a conductor after a couple of years and was fortunate enough to move into a role that was more challenging mentally for me (and office hours, free weekends after so many missed life events due to not getting leave granted!). However you don't want someone who you wouldn't trust to make a cup of coffee in charge of evacuating a busy train that's on fire on a live running line. The government does because it's a lot cheaper.
. There's alot more to this than "drivers". Workers are striking on safety grounds for passengers and staff alike.
