National Rail Strike

[MK Shrimper]

It's also about the Millwall supporting dinosaur Crow spoiling for a fight. While I understand the worry about the ripping up of T&C's, surely something that has been in place over 40 years needs to be revised / reviewed and changed with the advent of progress.

This is also the TSSA striking who have NEVER walked out before in their existance! That shows you how passionate railway workers feel about NR management trying to bully new and far worse T&C's onto staff while vast amounts of money are wasted on pointless management meetings and "workplace engagement" surveys like the utterly pointless Q12 survey

Coucher & his overpaid cronies are going against the ORR and the unions and god forbid they win, your railways will be more dangerous than they are now.

Of course the general public, with help of the delightful press in this country will villify NR staff and accuse them of being lazy, militant reds, which like BA, is so far from the truth.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Must be able to get a coach from Heathrow - Southend.

And this strike isn't about pay, its about NR ripping up our terms & conditions, making 1500 people redundant DESPITE the ORR telling NR we're down to our bare bones.

Ultimately NR want us to work more at nights & weekends to allow more trains to run. Unfortunately this will mean missed or shoddy maintenance compared to what it is now due to track access and it could result in another Greyrigg/Hatfield.

I never said it was about pay. I know perfectly well what it's about, I said 4 days was excessive. see...

I understand the why they're striking to protect against job losses but 4 days seems way OTT.

And no, as far as I can see there are no coaches from heathrow to southend. Should be one to london though...

 

[canveyshrimper]

This is also the TSSA striking who have NEVER walked out before in their existance! That shows you how passionate railway workers feel about NR management trying to bully new and far worse T&C's onto staff while vast amounts of money are wasted on pointless management meetings and "workplace engagement" surveys like the utterly pointless Q12 survey

Coucher & his overpaid cronies are going against the ORR and the unions and god forbid they win, your railways will be more dangerous than they are now.

Of course the general public, with help of the delightful press in this country will villify NR staff and accuse them of being lazy, militant reds, which like BA, is so far from the truth.

You didn't really answer my question Paul, surely T&C's will change with the advent of "modernisation" in any industry and I doubt that somethings that were written 40 odd years again are valid today.

I don't need to be influenced by the press. I will vilify the likes of Crow as he has been spoling for a fight and get the RMT Union out on a number of excuses for a good few years, and hasn't quite succeeded yet. However as we agreed the other day it's the customer that suffers the most, by maybe in extreme cases not being able to get to work and losing pay as a consequence. What recourse to the Union & NR do they have? Businesses struggling in the recession may have to put staff up in hotels to ensure their businesses are staffed and running. What recourse do they have to the Unions & NR?

Just as a side issue I'd be interested to know what Bob Crow's salary is in relation to his members, and how much of that salary he'll be giving up in support of his members who are out on strike. Not much I'd wager. As in many cases Union members can be used as cannon fodder in the political motivations of their leadership. I don't remember Arthur Scargill giving up his nice big house as he single handedly decimated the mining industry in this country.

 

[Napster]

You cant get a direct coach from Southend to London. You have to change at Stansted - it will take 3 and a half hours in total. For more info, see www.transportdirect.info

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

You cant get a direct coach from Southend to London. You have to change at Stansted - it will take 3 and a half hours in total. For more info, see www.transportdirect.info

Cheers Napster, yeah that's what I thought. Joy.

 

[MK Shrimper]

You didn't really answer my question Paul, surely T&C's will change with the advent of "modernisation" in any industry and I doubt that somethings that were written 40 odd years again are valid today.

T&C's are nothing to do with old steam age conditions - they've long gone, such as shoe leather allowance. NR are trying to inforce a roster where most maintenance is done at nights/weekends, therefore expecting staff to sacrifice their family lives, not to mention cutting 10% of the staff when we're already desperately short of bodies and rely on contractors.

As I've said, work will suffer. Maintenance is already lost due to restricted track access, and if Coucher wins, this will be even more restricted so trains can run 22hrs of the day?

 

[Mad Cyril]

Why can't these union dinosaurs realise that a four day strike would get more support if they could just wait until the World Cup kicks off?

 

[canveyshrimper]

T&C's are nothing to do with old steam age conditions - they've long gone, such as shoe leather allowance. NR are trying to inforce a roster where most maintenance is done at nights/weekends, therefore expecting staff to sacrifice their family lives, not to mention cutting 10% of the staff when we're already desperately short of bodies and rely on contractors.

As I've said, work will suffer. Maintenance is already lost due to restricted track access, and if Coucher wins, this will be even more restricted so trains can run 22hrs of the day?

I thought by the nature of such work that the majority of maintenence / engineering work id done at evenings and weekends. That's certainly the case on the c2c lines. They'll start work after 10pm and also shut sections of the line at weekends. Without trying to be smart huge sections of track can't be shut during peak times, therefore such work must be carried out off peak.

 

[MK Shrimper]

I thought by the nature of such work that the majority of maintenence / engineering work id done at evenings and weekends. That's certainly the case on the c2c lines. They'll start work after 10pm and also shut sections of the line at weekends. Without trying to be smart huge sections of track can't be shut during peak times, therefore such work must be carried out off peak.

Not all, some can be done during the working week, such as substation work where you're off track, on basic inspections/jobs can be done under lookout protection if the track allows.

It seems that NR wants trains to run later/start earlier, cutting down the period we can do the critical works and employ huge gangs at nights which means changing people's T&C's to get them in on permanent nights/weekend work.

 

[fatshrimp]

Is this strike going to go ahead? Or, is it a collaboration between Gordo and the Unions? Bankrupt political party needs funding ahead of general election they can't afford to fight, strike called off - Gordo saves the world, Bob Crowe (and his henchmen) appeases his disgruntled membership. Or am I being cynical?

 

[canveyshrimper]

Is this strike going to go ahead? Or, is it a collaboration between Gordo and the Unions? Bankrupt political party needs funding ahead of general election they can't afford to fight, strike called off - Gordo saves the world, Bob Crowe (and his henchmen) appeases his disgruntled membership. Or am I being cynical?

The PMT Union are not affiliated to the Labour Party apparently, although TSSA are. However as the Government own a huge part of Network Rail they can and may well step in.