Train strikes

[CrackingOwlSanctuary]

Can people please reply to the consultation about ticket office closures - https://www.gwr.com/haveyoursay

This is really going to affect people like me who are disabled. But given what's happened to me this year in regards to assisted travel, I know I'm not welcome on GWRs services.

It is disgusting, they are proposing stations like Workington close and have someone staffing it for 2 hours a day: anyone with mobility issues will need staff assistance to cross the platforms there as there is no lift just a barrow crossing.
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I actually think the DPPP act is the best way to trip their plans up, one of the reasons certain older rolling stock had to be retired was due to it not being DPPP compliant in that it didn't allow a wheelchair user access to a toilet, so I can't see how not having assistance available for those who need it is DPPP compliant.

 

[CrackingOwlSanctuary]

RMT strikes 30th March and 1st April called off.

 

[Yel]

if someone was having a heart attack or choking the general public on the train would probably just sit and watch

And if that happened on a normal busy long train nothing would be any different with a guard on board who with probability would take ages to get there even in the highly unlikely circumstance that they were immediately aware of it and nearby.

Thameslink has not become any less safe since going guardless years ago according to the stats.

I'm not sure I buy much of rhetoric about guards. Several times I've been on trains with a guard (somewhere) on the long service and they've not intervened or done anything when trouble has kicked off.

If it was just two carriages I think guards would make a difference. But with the really long and really busy trains here one is pretty ineffective.

Some services run without a guard it's true, the TFL DLR

It's the opposite for the DLR, they don't have a driver but they do have a guard. Not that they call them a guard, but it's effectively the same role for most of the time unless there's a fault and they need to take control of the driverless system.

 

[Folkevermore]

Railways in the UK are such an expensive and inferior alternative. As much as I'd like to use them more it's often not worth the compromise and I live in the south east.

They're so different to the railways of France, Spain, Italy, Germany etc which often seem reasonable and have a modern efficient service.

The unreliability in the U.K. is due to there not being sufficient capacity for the number of services to run. One delay can throw off the whole network because the government doesn’t provide enough funding to network rail to build what is required, plus people kick off about new train lines.
The difference in Europe is that the railways are Nationalised. Privatisation was a stupid move

 

[Blonde_moment]

ASLEF called three more strike dates: 12th May, 31st May & 3rd June.

Gutted about this as I had a day out by train planned for 3rd June

 

[PinkandTwinkly]

We are going to London on the 28th - very relieved wasn't a day earlier.

Just watch timings, as per previous strikes due to the 27th night shift not booking on, the service will start up much later on the 28th (around 0730 ish)

 

[Folkevermore]

Ffs. Don’t they care that people are losing money and jobs by not being able to go to work. How bloody much are they asking for. Everyone is
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They’re also losing money and jobs due to no payrises and redundancies.
I mean, they have the right to withdraw their labour, if their jobs are so important to other’s livelihoods they should be compensated for it.
Also it’s not really about the money at this point. Some of the terms and conditions changes that come with their pay deal are ridiculous.
For example they want to reduce the rest time between shifts from 12 hours to nine hours. Bear in mind most people (who aren’t drivers) commute into London as they can’t afford to live there on 25k a year, and so with that reduction of break time between shifts, by the time they get home, have some food and get ready for bed, they have to be up and getting ready for their next shift in five hours.
Another one is that they want to enforce forced weekend overtime at less than 48 hours notice if they’re understaffed. So on the odd occasion where staff do get a weekend off, they still can’t make plans or have any form of social life.
If it’s so important to people that they get to work then they can find another method of transportation, or put pressure on the government to actually come up with a fair negotiation

 

[Ohlordy2019]

I've only done 15 years in the railway and my other half 25 but the job isn't what it was.

Its not about money for either of us (he's had a pay rise, I haven't for four years but we don't have the massive outgoings luckily,) the whole environment has changed and both of us (like most of our TOC) absolutely hate our jobs.
Its made very clear by DFT and our TOC that we are easily replaceable and they don't really care about our welfare or safety. Very much if you don't like it, fuck off.

I'm not a fan of the RMT, they want to be seen as super powerful so call strikes to the detriment of their members (action short of strike would have been far more effective imo) but understand why there was such a big mandate for action.

Yep exactly that, my husband said the environment is toxic now. None of the ground staff are listened to, the working conditions are unsafe. After many years on nights and missing out on alot of family time hes now looking forward to being awake in normal hours, spending time with our kids and working for an employer who appreciates their workers.

 

[gossipgirlxxo]

Thameslink has not become any less safe since going guardless years ago according to the stats.

I think the biggest difference with Thameslink and other train routes, is the stations are all close together, you don’t get big gaps longer than around 30 minutes between stations so it would generally be safer for that reason - station staff, quicker to remove yourself from a dangerous situation, different flow of people etc. If a train isn’t due to stop for an hour or more, there is more reason to deem that unsafe I believe.

 

[Beverley Macker]

There are train strikes announced for next week.

I'm now unable to travel and have been told it'll cost me £10 "admin fee". But it's not a choice - there are no trains going to where I want to go.

It’s a nightmare. It’s going to take 4 different trains to get to where I need to work, its an absolute fucking joke and I have zero fucks and sympathy left to give now.

 

[Folkevermore]

The main redundancies that they want to make are safety critical roles, mostly the people who inspect and maintain the track.

Yep, regardless of how many people use the trains (which was actually up to 92% of pre pandemic levels last month), the same number of services run over them. The timetable hasn’t changed significantly enough for less maintenance work to be required

 

[PinkandTwinkly]

More Aslef Strike and work to rule.

Maximum pact by spreading the strikes over a week alternating Tocs
First Sunday action short of strike, which for members whose Sunday is overtime/outside the working week losing that plus a strike day won't make for a nice Christmas pay packet

 

[Nannycaff54]

Its difficult, once shouldn't be enough for them to want to get rid of him but if these strikes go on his managers are going to get arsey

Can he find any alternative? Someone to stay with, or a hotel. If he could show that he had plans for next time, I'm hope they'd be more lenient

Sadly, As non striking rail staff it's cost me extra this week, I don't drive so have had to get a taxi in/out @ 45 a day.
I have a colleague who booked a hotel for the week as it was cheaper than a taxi (starting at 6am so was screwed even on the inbetween days)

Unfortunately he has learning disabilities and although he gets a train on his own after me doing the journey with him a few times and when trains are cancelled or delayed he rings me and I talk him through it, he’s not confident enough to book into a hotel overnight and stay there on his own . A taxi would cost £75 one way. We’ve looked at alternative ways but can’t work out a way to get round it. He already pays out over £300 for a monthly train ticket so we can’t afford a taxi every time there’s a strike so rather than getting sacked he’s going to quit.

 

[Eirawen]

Unfortunately strikes happen when they will cause the most disruption..that’s the point.

Exactly no point in striking if you don't cause disruption.

 

[wideopenspace]

Buckle up, here come the train strikes.

LNER every Sat and Sun from August 31 until November.

https://www.archive.is/oldest/https...hs-train-strikes-weekend-August-November.html

Great so over half term again. I'm sure I'm not the only one to have already bought tickets. I thought finally things had been sorted and trains were OK to use and start planning ahead.

 

[CrackingOwlSanctuary]

I would be bite someone’s hand off for a 4% pay increase haven’t had one for years

As I already outlined above it isn't simply a 4% pay rise, the pay rise is tied to massive job losses and changing everyone's working conditions. There hasn't been a pay rise on the railway for years either (on my TOC anyway). If it was 4% no strings it would probably be accepted. It doesn't help that others in the transport sector like Stagecoach are getting 10% no strings.

 

[Tublet83]

I would be bite someone’s hand off for a 4% pay increase haven’t had one for years

 

[CrackingOwlSanctuary]

Folkevermore I am a Crew Planner so I know exactly what you are talking about, it can be hard to try and get these things across to people with little understanding of the railway. To be honest half of my headaches come from people who should have a good understanding of the railway sticking their oar into issues they dont understand, that's bad enough!

Had an email chain land in my inbox the other day that had been all round the houses about 'solving a problem' that I identified a fix for in 30 seconds purely by knowing what the actual plan was rather than trying to invent one outside my sphere of expertise.

The trains can be rubbish and are at the moment (for a myriad of factors) but I think it is easy to say 'lol why don't they just do X' when the whole system is complicated by it's very nature do to the layers of modernisation that have come in. That doesn't fit the narrative though, especially for politicians. Apparently the 'dinosaur' railway needs to 'get with the times' and make it easier for staff to perform different roles/sign more routes and traction. Like they did under British Rail, then

My limited experience of union action is in a different field entirely, but I never participated for a few reasons. Chiefly because the union committee was a specific cliquey group of people with a very specific agenda, and because the manager who was bullying me out of my job was allowed a leading position. The bullying predated him knowing my choices regarding strikes and other actions.

That's terrible, I'm sorry you had to go through that. Unfortunately unions aren't always infallible, and rail unions can fall foul of that the same as others (especially at local level). I know people who have become reps purely to feather their own nests but I also know decent reps and seen first hand proactive branches ensure that there can be no conflict of interest with management side being reps etc.

What I would always advise anyone in your position however is that as a member you are within your rights to seek advice from a neutral party within the union if you feel you have a grievance.

 

[conrea37]

The media reporting on that offer is frankly astounding, claiming the RMT 'refuse to save Christmas' by rejecting it. The deal is being totally misrepresented, agreeing that offer is essentially agreeing to axe your own job for a lot of grades. This is what is actually on the table:

These proposals set out a two-year pay package which provides 4% increases for years 2022 & 2023. These are way below the current and predicted future rates of inflation and equate to a 20% pay cut.
A conditional no compulsory redundancy commitment is set out, but only until 1st April 2024.

1. That all Workforce Changes are accepted without reservation or industrial action;
2. Closure of all ticket offices and displacement of all retail staff;
3. Creation of a new multi-skilled station grades;
4. A mass job severance programme;
5. Driver-Only Operation of trains in all companies and on all passenger services;
6. New arrangements for mandatory Sunday working;
7. A review of all On-Train Catering services leading to cutbacks in provision and jobs;
8. Review of Fleet grades' working practices and depot driving;
9. Flexible working contracts, working and rosters;
10. Mandatory adoption of new technology with no payment;
11. New Attendance Management scheme;
12. Review of Stood Off arrangements;
13. New annual leave and sick pay arrangements.

All this supposedly because 'no-one is using the train' but I see plenty of trains full and standing. Even if the RMT agreed this, ASLEF and TSSA are still in dispute.

The offer is piss poor. Fire staff to rehire. I am in a role that already has Sunday work so doesn't affect me directly. They claim no redundancies but all ticket office and conductor/train managers' jobs will become a new job.

bUt WeRe RuInInG cHrIsTmAs

 

[CrackingOwlSanctuary]

But the train operators are losing more money through strike days than they ever would’ve spent on payrises. Can’t believe they’re still refusing to negotiate whilst still making huge shareholder payouts

The government are pulling the strings because they want to axe thousands of jobs in the name of 'modernisation' aka get rid of loads of front line staff so passengers are reliant on apps and machines.

I've always found work to rule to be hard to implement in practice, there are always people who will work over either because they love a sweetener or because they are concerned about their job (for various reasons) and think never refusing to pull them out of the shit will count down the line, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.