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Train Drivers Strike : 'Summer Of Discontent'

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3 hours ago, Chekhov said:

And it is even less fair when one remembers that they only have that industrial muscle by the fact they can thoroughly inconvenience millions of people, who get hurt as "collateral damage".

Any sector can have the same power if they organise themselves.

I started a thread months ago about pending disputes, this was very predictable. If you don't think industrial muscle is acceptable, what is your alternative? There is a shortage of workers, so they have more power, the government needs to ensure an ample supply of workers.

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Anybody seen the adverts on TV for an online  platform called (I think) '8' 'a platform for the people.'

19 minutes ago, El Cid said:

Any sector can have the same power if they organise themselves.

I started a thread months ago about pending disputes, this was very predictable. If you don't think industrial muscle is acceptable, what is your alternative? There is a shortage of workers, so they have more power, the government needs to ensure an ample supply of workers.

Anybody seen the rather strange adverts on TV for an online platform called (I think) '8' 'A platform for the people.'

I've no idea what it refers to and haven't been able to find out so far, but it sounds as though it could be an attempt to 'organise.'

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42 minutes ago, Anna B said:

Anybody seen the adverts on TV for an online  platform called (I think) '8' 'a platform for the people.'

Anybody seen the rather strange adverts on TV for an online platform called (I think) '8' 'A platform for the people.'

I've no idea what it refers to and haven't been able to find out so far, but it sounds as though it could be an attempt to 'organise.'

Hardly. It's just a massive crowdfunding campaign for a open community run social media app which supposedly us plebs can somehow make money off without dealing with "the man". I see a few gushing high-profile celebrity endorsements including multi-millionaire footballers, musicians and a female TV sports presenter.

 

Lots of buzzwords about reclaiming power and real change  and the social media revolution according to its advertising guff.  Incidentally, all currently operated by some 'ordinary woman of the people' who just happened to spend years building up her communications tech companies to an estimated net worth up to $5 million advising Mom and Pop business such as News Corp, Google, CBS, Time Warner, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse. 

 

I will be very very sceptical on just who exactly it's pulling the levers behind it's glamorous looking, buzzword filled, celebrity endorsed front end.  Who exactly is building their own nest from all these £10 little Investments from "the people". 

 

At worst it's a gimmick, at best it's a glorified version of slacktivism.  Tick tock... tick tock before said entrepreneur gets some offer she can't refuse and boom, it will be sod the community, sod the investors, and before you know it will just become one of the many many data mining social media platforms 

 

Certainly not one for me but I can only speak my own opinion.....

 

Weare8.com

 

Edited by ECCOnoob

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Oh OK. Thanks for the name, anyway. No wonder I couldn't track it down before.

At least now I can do some research for myself and find out who's behind it etc. It certainly wasn't very clear before which isn't a good sign, call me cynical but I do tend to work to the maxim, 'if it sounds too good to be true it usually is....' etc.

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15 hours ago, El Cid said:

Any sector can have the same power if they organise themselves.

I started a thread months ago about pending disputes, this was very predictable. If you don't think industrial muscle is acceptable, what is your alternative? There is a shortage of workers, so they have more power, the government needs to ensure an ample supply of workers.

If there is a shortage of labour the price (i.e. the wages) will rise anyway, that's how the market works and did so spectacularly with truck drivers last year.

And no, not any sector can have the same power if they organise themselves. 

If a Union takes on an employer, what will happen is the customer of that employer will just go to one of its competitors for the product or service they require. This kind of union blackmail can only happen in a few specific areas now, thank God.

What all the union supporters on here are missing is that if fewer people use the trains because of threatened industrial action the companies have even less money to pay their staff. These unions are crapping on their own bed but relying ion the government to (in the end) pay for it. I do not think they should.

Edited by Chekhov

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3 hours ago, Chekhov said:

If there is a shortage of labour the price (i.e. the wages) will rise anyway, that's how the market works and did so spectacularly with truck drivers last year.

And no, not any sector can have the same power if they organise themselves. 

If a Union takes on an employer, what will happen is the customer of that employer will just go to one of its competitors for the product or service they require. This kind of union blackmail can only happen in a few specific areas now, thank God.

What all the union supporters on here are missing is that if fewer people use the trains because of threatened industrial action the companies have even less money to pay their staff. These unions are crapping on their own bed but relying ion the government to (in the end) pay for it. I do not think they should.

Have unions ever been "content"?

 

Probably the nearest they ever came is the public sector unions, where there's no limit on spending!

Edited by trastrick

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On 30/05/2022 at 16:07, sibon said:

On a different thread, you seem unhappy that the minimum wage is over a tenner these days.

People need to be paid properly.

I did not say I was unhappy, what I said was £9.50 an hour is not "peanuts", people talk like it is. As I mentioned elsewhere, when I started work in the mid late 80s I was on 25% less than that (even adjusting for inflation).

 

People need to be paid properly.

What does that even mean ?

Edited by Chekhov

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Guest sibon
35 minutes ago, Chekhov said:

 

 

People need to be paid properly.

What does that even mean ?

I think that says it all.

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Chekhov said:

"People need to be paid properly."

What does that even mean ?

46 minutes ago, sibon said:

I think that says it all.

Yet again Sibon fails to answer the question.

I wonder whether Mike Buckley could answer it......

Edited by Chekhov

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Judging by the events of the last week in the news, it isn't the threatened train drivers strike that'll lead to a summer of discontent, but rather the total chaos at our airports.

Passengers having flights cancelled at the last minute, and being told by text and email, rather than in person, 5 minutes before they were due to fly on their holidays. Mind you look at what happened to those P&O workers, being told by text at the last minute that they were sacked. Disgusting.

Anyway Transport Secretary Michael Green, Corinne Stockheath, Sebastian Fox, Grant Schapps is on the case. So, I'm sure that instills confidence in everyone. 😏

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3 hours ago, Mister M said:

Judging by the events of the last week in the news, it isn't the threatened train drivers strike that'll lead to a summer of discontent, but rather the total chaos at our airports.

Grant Schapps is on the case. So, I'm sure that instills confidence in everyone. 

The buses are on strike in my area. Grant Shapps is no where to be seen.

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What really brings home to people just how selfish these Unions are is how it affects people on a personal level.

Some friends of mine were going to go on holiday to Newquay this summer by train. But they do not feel they can book it now because they cannot be sure the train will run. They would probably get the fare back (though it's load of hassle) but they will have paid for the hotel and booked off their holiday from work. Thus, I think, they have decided to not go, the third year they will have had no holiday.....

And that, in a microcosm, is why I do not think rail workers should be allowed to go on strike.

 

I'm sure the unions will feel sorry for my friends, not. After all they want to cause as much inconvenience to as many people as possible, ****ers.

 

Normally, in most businesses, a drop in demand (and these threats of strike action must be causing that) would mean less jobs and/or hours for the workers, so why should rail workers not suffer the consequences of their own actions ?

 

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