[Travel] Mick lynch

[LamieRobertson]

I find it utterly depressing that someone like Rachel Maclean has even become an MP let alone in a position of some power. She like most of her colleagues is simply an actress, a puppet, reading from a script, not able to cope with anyone with a difference of opinion, reacting by pulling faces, playground mentality. With people like this making decisions for us this country is screwed.

Presumably people voted for her

 

[Weststander]

Presumably people voted for her

Is that allowed if she’s not left wing?

 

[Uh_huh_him]

It's a good video and shows him in the best light, as highlight videos tend to do.

But my opinion remains - he/the Union are demanding an unreasonable increase that they know they will not get. They will settle on a lower increase which will absolutely be deserved by the workers. And then prices will rise in future and jobs will be lost as a result of the increased cost of their workforce neccessitating job losses.

I'm not sure whether the rail companies can just raise prices to recover their costs.
I think ticket prices are mandated to increase in line with inflation.

The problem is that wages aren't rising in line with inflation, this is why the RMT believe they have a valid point for their demands.

 

[Acker79]

[tweet]1540080326172725248[/tweet]

 

[zefarelly]

[tweet]1540080326172725248[/tweet]

I read this last night and questioned it . . . If its being forced, it's illegal. Having watched QT the peoblem with the union is they dig themselves in deep over everything and anything.

With 2 sides of archaic stubbornness it's only going to end badly

 

[Badger Boy]

It’s funny, there was a nsc poster the other day who sung KB’s praises. How she’d relentlessly tackled the government during Covid.

I don’t know if she’s left or right, but she’s a shit stirrer and rude interviewer, to get viewer numbers up. Vacuous, she’d never get a job as a proper journalist.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Even Piers Morgan gets himself on the right side of issues from time to time! But you know for a fact that Morgan and Burley will be back to being deplorable immediately. They have to be outraged by everything to stay relevant, whether they're bothered by the subject or not. That's not journalism.

 

[Eric the meek]

Is that allowed if she’s not left wing?

LOL. Churchill once said the best argument against democracy was to hold a five minute conversation with a member of the electorate.

Voters cause no end of trouble.

 

[Eric the meek]

I read this last night and questioned it . . . If its being forced, it's illegal. Having watched QT the peoblem with the union is they dig themselves in deep over everything and anything.

With 2 sides of archaic stubbornness it's only going to end badly

I enjoyed the tale of the RMT rule that staff based at Euston cannot be deployed at Kings Cross and vice versa. I thought it couldn't possibly be true, until Mick Lynch defended the policy.

I know his remit is to protect jobs, but there's a point in everyone's life when you need to flex a bit.

 

[WATFORD zero]

Presumably people voted for her

It would be interesting to know, MP by MP, how many voted for the individual and how many voted for the rosette they were wearing. Despite all the talk about 'local representation', I would be absolutely stunned if the numbers weren't hugely skewed to the latter

 

[LamieRobertson]

It would be interesting to know, MP by MP, how many voted for the individual and how many voted for the rosette they were wearing. Despite all the talk about 'local representation', I would be absolutely stunned if the numbers weren't hugely skewed to the latter

I think you might struggle to find that out

Ps I agree with your assumption ….just look at most political posts on NSC for starters

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I read this last night and questioned it . . . If its being forced, it's illegal. Having watched QT the peoblem with the union is they dig themselves in deep over everything and anything.

With 2 sides of archaic stubbornness it's only going to end badly

Personally I think many people’s view on this industrial action is colored/tainted by the media and the Tory party drawing comparisons to previous strikes…you only have to watch that clown who brought up the miners strike. Lynch is a breath of fresh air as he repeatedly and clearly explains what this is about and it’s about getting a fair deal for his staff. Nothing wrong with that at all. Good luck and I hope other sectors like teachers and health workers say enough is enough and demand more than some saucepan banging and 1%. It was only a short while back MPs got a bit pay rise which they claimed they could not refuse.

 

[lawros left foot]

I didn’t realise that Mick Lynch started out as an electrician in the construction industry but, was blacklisted for Union activity. He then joined the railway.

Do those that think it’s possible for RMT members who are employed by different companies to just work across the whole railway for any company that needs their particular skills? It’s not. If you are employed by Govia, you can’t go off and work for South Eastern. It would be like working for Sainsburys and helping out at Tesco if they were short staffed.
A lot of the franchises has different equipment and practices.

 

[beorhthelm]

I didn’t realise that Mick Lynch started out as an electrician in the construction industry but, was blacklisted for Union activity. He then joined the railway.

Do those that think it’s possible for RMT members who are employed by different companies to just work across the whole railway for any company that needs their particular skills? It’s not. If you are employed by Govia, you can’t go off and work for South Eastern. It would be like working for Sainsburys and helping out at Tesco if they were short staffed.
A lot of the franchises has different equipment and practices.

Network Rail does not run franchises, one big org for all the rail managment, maintenance, upgrade and signalling. no one has suggested train operator staff work between lines, as you point out they have different employeers.

 

[Jolly Red Giant]

These strikes are a legacy of the privatisation of the transport sector by the Tories (and New Labour) - the intent was to pump billions of public money into the pockets of private companies and it has been a disaster for the workforces and for commuters. Every year the government provide massive subsidies to the rail (and bus) companies and every year these companies rake in huge profits while driving up fares and attempting to drive down jobs, wages and working conditions. The success of this strike by the RMT is in the interests of every single worker in Britain and every single commuter - and huge numbers realise this, which is why the RMT have receieved significant public support for the strike.

As for Lynch - well the RMT have traditionally been one of the better organised and more militant trade unions in Britain. Lynch has shown what a straight-talking and competent trade union official can do when faced with the antics of right-wing (and far-right in the case of Piers Morgan) political correspondents and interviewers. Lynch is following on from the traditions of Bob Crow and the others in the leadership of the RMT that have come before him. It is interesting that one competent trade union leader can have such an impact in terms of the media - and goes to show how incompetent most of the rest of the leaders of the trade union movement are and have been (Sharon Graham of Unite would be another exception as would Matt Wrack of the FBU). Unfortunately we do not have any union leader in Ireland remotely as competent as Mick Lynch (which is why a lot of memes are floating around social media saying that Irish workers want to put a transfer bid in for Lynch).

 

[Baldseagull]

Network Rail does not run franchises, one big org for all the rail managment, maintenance, upgrade and signalling. no one has suggested train operator staff work between lines, as you point out they have different employeers.

The equipment is not all the same across Network Rail though. I have no idea how practical it is for engineers based out of Kings Cross to find and fix faults on the lines out of Euston, but I know from working at multiple venues for other services, that faults get fixed quicker and less mistakes are made by people that know the building.
There are multiple issues being discussed, I don't know if any one of these individually would have resulted in the membership voting near 90% for strike action, but together they make a compelling case for it.

 

[beorhthelm]

The equipment is not all the same across Network Rail though. I have no idea how practical it is for engineers based out of Kings Cross to find and fix faults on the lines out of Euston, but I know from working at multiple venues for other services, that faults get fixed quicker and less mistakes are made by people that know the building.
There are multiple issues being discussed, I don't know if any one of these individually would have resulted in the membership voting near 90% for strike action, but together they make a compelling case for it.

perhaps this is part of modernisation.

 

[Southern Scouse]

He’s doing a fantastic job of representing his members. Talks a lot of sense and doesn’t take any bullshit. He has embarrassed the lapdog Tory ministers and journalists over the last few days.

He represents me in the Ambulance service. Let’s say his union have done very little for me or my colleagues in the last ten years. I was invited to be an “Activist “… a few weeks ago. I’m a socialist , but feel extremely underwhelmed at present. I think my union cares as much about me, as my government.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

I like him but sadly I won’t be voting as I don’t understand the two options.

I agree. Wouldn’t be totally confident which option to choose.

But for the usual suspects on here who are writing him off, he has gained plaudits from right wing commentators and pundits on his interview performances.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

He's running rings around anyone interviewing him. I bet he's a nightmare to face around the negotiating table

Maybe a job in Government awaits - Special Envoy to Russia - get him round the table with Putin ?

 

[Baldseagull]

perhaps this is part of modernisation.

Perhaps, but even when all things are very similar, it is a ball ache to be shunted around, or have to work with different groups of people from one day to the next. I would consider it a worsening of my working conditions, not a major one, but if we were going to have a grumble about redundancies, pay, pensions etc. I would chuck it in there too, it might have to give in order to get other things, but that is the nature of negotiations.