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[Travel] RMT strike.



Leekbrookgull

Leekbrookgull

Well-known member
Jul 14, 2005
16,252
Leek
There's probably several NSC members who will be involved in this action/dispute and as a member of the paying public can someone please explain exactly what is going on here? We often hear about staff shortages on the railways and yet the MSM is linking industrial action to staff redundancies, something doesn't add up so surely get some answers from management.
 




Commander

Commander

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Apr 28, 2004
12,924
London
Is it about 'safety concerns' again? That were solved with a pay rise last time?
 


drew

drew

Drew
Oct 3, 2006
23,067
Burgess Hill
Two sides to every story. RMT claim Network Rail are cutting over 2000 maintenance jobs which on the face of it would imply a reduction in maintenance ergo a reduction in safety. Network Rail say their modernisation plans have been rejected. Question is do those plans keep maintenance at the same or better level? We also know that the treasury have told the Dept of Transport to reduce their budget by 10%. Are the job cuts to meet that target or are they because the modernisation plans are an efficient way of doing the same thing?

No doubt the Tory press aided and abetted by the likes of Nick Ferrari will be banging on about train drivers earning £60k (they're members of ASLEF anyway) but will overlook the lower salaries. According to this site the average salary of engineers is only £28,799, 14% below the national average.

https://uk.indeed.com/cmp/Network-Rail/salaries/Engineer

Anyone using the trains around the time of Hatfield will remember the disruption caused by all the enforced speed restrictions whilst the network was thoroughly checked after years of neglect.
 


zefarelly

zefarelly

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 7, 2003
21,824
Sussex, by the sea
Commander said:
Is it about 'safety concerns' again? That were solved with a pay rise last time?
Click to expand...

Always the way isn't it . . . . I worked on an oil refinery in Romania 23 years ago, scarily dangerous at times, but nothing a 100% payrise couldn't shield against :rolleyes:
 






Herr Tubthumper

Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
59,592
The Fatherland
drew said:
Two sides to every story. RMT claim Network Rail are cutting over 2000 maintenance jobs which on the face of it would imply a reduction in maintenance ergo a reduction in safety. Network Rail say their modernisation plans have been rejected. Question is do those plans keep maintenance at the same or better level? We also know that the treasury have told the Dept of Transport to reduce their budget by 10%. Are the job cuts to meet that target or are they because the modernisation plans are an efficient way of doing the same thing?

No doubt the Tory press aided and abetted by the likes of Nick Ferrari will be banging on about train drivers earning £60k (they're members of ASLEF anyway) but will overlook the lower salaries. According to this site the average salary of engineers is only £28,799, 14% below the national average.

https://uk.indeed.com/cmp/Network-Rail/salaries/Engineer

Anyone using the trains around the time of Hatfield will remember the disruption caused by all the enforced speed restrictions whilst the network was thoroughly checked after years of neglect.
Click to expand...

I personally do not care if the unions use health and safety genuinly or not; as a rail user i am just pleased they do.
 


E

essbee1

Well-known member
Jun 25, 2014
4,137
I used to be very much a "oh yeah, unions at it again" person. But I've changed my tune. The way that
the railways profits are being syphoned off to fat cats and useless, pasty-faced, overfed management,
I am fully behind the union. I will be seriously inconvenienced by the strike, but hey - I'm not half as
pissed off as I once would have been. It seems a crying shame however that the people most hurt by this are the
people who NEED to get to work and are usually on relatively low incomes (a massive generalisation of course).
 


Herr Tubthumper

Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
59,592
The Fatherland
essbee1 said:
I used to be very much a "oh yeah, unions at it again" person. But I've changed my tune. The way that
the railways profits are being syphoned off to fat cats and useless, pasty-faced, overfed management,
I am fully behind the union. I will be seriously inconvenienced by the strike, but hey - I'm not half as
pissed off as I once would have been. It seems a crying shame however that the people most hurt by this are the
people who NEED to get to work and are usually on relatively low incomes (a massive generalisation of course).
Click to expand...

This.
 




Guinness Boy

Guinness Boy

Tofu eating wokerati
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Jul 23, 2003
34,202
Up and Coming Sunny Portslade
essbee1 said:
I used to be very much a "oh yeah, unions at it again" person. But I've changed my tune. The way that
the railways profits are being syphoned off to fat cats and useless, pasty-faced, overfed management,
I am fully behind the union. I will be seriously inconvenienced by the strike, but hey - I'm not half as
pissed off as I once would have been. It seems a crying shame however that the people most hurt by this are the
people who NEED to get to work and are usually on relatively low incomes (a massive generalisation of course).
Click to expand...

I can't image any TOC has made any money at all since March 2020. Network Rail is government owned.
 




beorhthelm

beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,312
which one, there's a couple arent there? union seems to ignore the billions pumped in to prop up the network when communters stayed at home and continue to travel far less.

i recall last time looked only a couple of the train operating companies made any profits from rail operation, and even then it was a couple %.
 






highflyer

highflyer

Well-known member
Jan 21, 2016
2,435
I think most people are fully aware that when economic times get tough, the impacts will be shifted onto workers and lower paid, and the richest will continue to sit pretty. The government we have will do whatever is necessary to ensure that is what will happen, it's their entire raison d'etre (and the current opposition is hardly likely to speak out against corporate power).

Whatever worker protection exists can only come from collective action. Now would be a very good time to join a union if you can.
 












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