ASLEF (the train drivers union) and TSSA (the office based/management union) are currently balloting for strike with a deadline of early July so there could be more strikes with even less of a service running next month. Currently they can plan to run some services as drivers are still in but once they are out (and the people coordinating the service are out) then it's just nothing running at all.
The TOC me and OH work for.
The ones suffering are the restaurants, theatres, tourist attractions and the poor souls who have to struggle getting into work. I've stopped making plans in London because you just don't know when a strick will be called.
www.bbc.com
Yep July 2019 was last raise so 3.5 years
There’s a lot of desperate staff at the airports putting up with very abusive travellers working for a lot less pay than SOME of the rail staff. The government do not care about any of this . They actually said on air the people shouldn’t be asking for big pay rises. I do sympathise with the rail workers but I sympathise more for workers like my grandson who can’t get to work and will lose a big chunk of their monthly wage because of it.I don’t think rail staff really want to strike, at least not any of the ones I’ve spoken to. But the unions have been negotiating for over a year at this point, and the companies don’t care. Staff are getting desperate and are struggling with the cost of living and poor work conditions
Avantis parent company promised a pay out of £500 million to shareholders last year but apparently can’t even give staff a 4-5% pay increase
www.strikecalendar.co.uk
it’s definitely so frustrating that people don’t realise all of the work that goes on behind the scenes, and how difficult and complex it is to keep the railway running.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
Ignoring the H&S changes, they're trying to buy out a lot of current terms and conditions which costs money
I'm sure there was an underlying reason for that? Or are they just timetabling it as a massive waste of resource for a laugh?
I think it’s important for some things, such as if there’s a medical emergency on board. All on board staff have safety critical training and have regular training on everything from heart attacks to bomb threats.
It’s roughly 70miles each way, so if he tried to use buses it would take at least 3 hours each way. When you’re working a 12hr night shift it’s not ideal.
He has looked at hotels in Brighton but as he works nights he would have to book 2 nights as he finishes work at 6 in the morning and you have to check out of your room by 11 meaning he would get 3 hours sleep then he would have to leave. He could pay for an extra night and leave at 5pm and that would cost quite a bit of money too. It’s a no win situation.
It must vary on tocs, my partner works onboard at avanti and works Sundays contractually, he also clears tables. Train managers have lots of other duties you might not be aware of though, it would make sense to have additional on board crew to deal with that stuff.
The government can’t even build a high speed railway line. They’re not going to be investing enough money into infrastructure and rolling stock to have driverless trains any time soon
