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Train Drivers Strike : 'Summer Of Discontent'

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Typical Chekov whinge

 

Typical Anna whinge about government.

 

You both need to find something different to moan about

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2 hours ago, sibon said:

Who would have thought that Checkov, the libertarian, would become a suppressionist so easily. 

The big freedom is the freedom to get a job somewhere else. That's what most of us have to do if we think our present job doesn't pay enough.

That said, I think the freedom to strike should, by and large, be protected, just not in a public service.

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1 hour ago, Delayed said:

Typical Chekov whinge

 

Typical Anna whinge about government.

 

You both need to find something different to moan about

Considering the state of the country, I think we have every right to whinge....

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1 minute ago, Anna B said:

Considering the state of the country, I think we have every right to whinge....

Absolutely but just not the right to turn every thread into the same boring whinge. 

 

Make a thread and stick to the subject.  This forum is turning into a one trick pony. 

 

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Guest sibon
3 minutes ago, Chekhov said:

The big freedom is the freedom to get a job somewhere else. That's what most of us have to do if we think our present job doesn't pay enough.

That said, I think the freedom to strike should, by and large, be protected, just not in a public service.

But you want to curtail the legal freedoms of the train drivers.

 

Given your outspoken and oft repeated opinions about lockdown, some might consider that to be a touch hypocritical. 

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4 hours ago, Chekhov said:

Anything which millions of people need to get to work (or play for that matter) and which, in addition, is heavily subsidised by the British tax payer, qualifies closely enough for that description. Certainly closely enough to mean strikes should be banned.

Maybe some joined-up thinking by successive governments, keeping strategic interests like transport, food sufficiency, energy production <etc>, exercised steadfastly in the national interest, would go a lot further for your and everybody else’s socio-economic well-being, than banning personal working rights extremely hard fought for and earned in blood by your forefathers.

 

Maybe some coordinated pressure and voting coordination by the electorate,  (you know, Union-like), could bring about that sort of joined-up thinking. Eventually.

 

In preference to the current, rudderless politainment designed to exercise you about your fellow working man and anyone else at risk of earning more than you, or inconveniencing you for a couple of days, or (…) whilst the carpetbaggers are quietly asset-stripping the country after buying its management.

 

Just a notion, perish the thought, etc.

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13 minutes ago, Chekhov said:

I think the freedom to strike should, by and large, be protected, just not in a public service.

Can you explain your logic?

Is that a publicly owned train company cannot strike, but a private train company can?

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2 hours ago, sibon said:

But you want to curtail the legal freedoms of the train drivers.

Given your outspoken and oft repeated opinions about lockdown, some might consider that to be a touch hypocritical. 

2 hours ago, El Cid said:

Can you explain your logic?

Is that a publicly owned train company cannot strike, but a private train company can?

It would be interesting to see how much they would end up getting paid if it were the market setting their wages, like it is for the great majority of people. It is possible they would still end up getting the same, if so good luck to them, for they would have done so fairly and without blackmailing the great British public.

 

5 hours ago, West 77 said:

It's the Union leaders to blame rather than the people actually working.  The Union leaders justify their actions by  calling it inconvenience rather than punishment.  

Not entirely W. The members vote for strike action. And, TBH, with the system set up as it is, and most people being as selfish as they are, it is hardly surprising many of them vote to strike.

Edited by Chekhov

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8 hours ago, carosio said:

When I was working for a retail store in 2013,  wage was £6.20/hr.

Inflation since 2013 is 22%, so that would be the equivalent of £7.56 an hour now. Hugely less than the current  minimum wage (which is £9.50 an hour), thus proving my point, and, coincidentally, more or less what I was on as an assistant branch manager at a tool hire shop in 1985 !

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21 hours ago, Chekhov said:

I have zero sympathy for the train drivers. Let's face it they are over paid anyway,

The skills sets and training required to become a train driver are extremely difficult. Their salary reflects that need. If it were easy then salaries would be much lower.

I assume you lack any form of skills/qualifications purely based on your idiotic postulation that they're overpaid, which is why you sit spouting nonsense on an internet forum. 

 

Quote

also why just recently truck drivers (and to a lesser extent bus drivers) got big wage rises.

They were hardly big rises, especially buys drivers. 

 

Quote

 should not be able to go on strike.

Ok Margaret...

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1 hour ago, Resident said:

The skills sets and training required to become a train driver are extremely difficult. Their salary reflects that need. If it were easy then salaries would be much lower

Come off it, you know as well as I do the train crews , esp the drivers, would not be getting what they do were it not for their industrial muscle, which they are very willing to (selfishly) use. I have heard salaries of £50K plus mentioned, and it's even worse in London Underground drivers. When I hear that I start wanting driverless trains because that is just taking the ****.

 

If you're so sure train drivers are not over paid, let them not go on strike and see what the market ends up paying them, like the rest of us have to do.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chekhov said :

The fact is that for the vast majority of people it's the market that sets the wages, supply and demand. Which is why a footballer can be paid millions and a carer just the minimum wage , and also why just recently truck drivers (and to a lesser extent bus drivers) got big wage rises.

1 hour ago, Resident said:

They were hardly big rises, especially bus drivers.

The truck drivers did get big wage rises, particularly over night trunkers, I remember being shocked at wages on on offer on the job adverts in the motorway services. But even the bus drivers smaller increases were rises none the less, and the wages rose to what the market will bear, because, err, we live in a market economy. Why do train drivers think they're so special ? Even worse, they make the public suffer for their selfishness.

Edited by Chekhov

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1 hour ago, Resident said:

[ train drivers should be banned from striking. OK Margaret...

I am not saying all workers should be banned from striking, I am very specifically saying that workers who provide an essential (to many people) public service, particularly one that is heavily subsidised, should not be able to hold the country to ransom for excessive wage claims. If the train drivers think they can get more money doing something else, then go and get a job somewhere else. If the train companies then run short of drivers they will increase the wages, that's how it works.

Edited by Chekhov
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