Discussion
itannum990 said:
Because you are in a position to receive a pay rise without the need to threaten to strike?
And for your other point, I'd take a drop in pay if it meant that I had the opportunity to travel for work, travelling outside of south London anyway!
I also work on the Tube and I'm also in the RMT, (but only because of the closed shop that 'doesn't exist'). And for your other point, I'd take a drop in pay if it meant that I had the opportunity to travel for work, travelling outside of south London anyway!
I've never gone on strike and neither have any of my colleagues, (we're all engineers and technicians). Pay has gone up slightly and obviously we'd prefer it went up more but we understand there is a finite amount of money and we are already very well compensated. (My pay has risen a bit more on a couple of occasions because I was promoted after performance reviews). We regularly have to change shifts at short notice but as we are paid well we do it, it's all part of the package. When the night Tube comes in we'll also have more tasks to carry out but we won't strike because, (and I realise that this is becoming repetitive), we are very well paid for it.
As for getting in late a couple of nights I can only say, "Aw diddums"! My previous career was in the Armed Forces where I was regularly away for months at a time, (and paid crap wages for it too BTW).
And who was it that was moaning about being stuck in a train cab for hours? My heart bleeds that you have to suffer that comfy seat in your air-conditioned cab while us engineers are deep under London in the tunnels, ankle deep in oil and rat droppings, alternately freezing our nuts off or sweating bullets in the dark, filthy conditions. But, again, we are paid very well for it so we do it.
Few of us however are paid as well as the drivers. None of us will be striking.
eldar said:
Now you are getting silly. A tube driver on 50K a year clearly pretending to be hard done by having a whole deck of I'm the victim cards.
Driving a tube train requires training, a degree of skill and some anti social hours - though no degree, formal registration or post graduate qualification.
Look at nursing, policing, firefighting, engineering, teaching or social working.
Now tell me why a tube driver on entry is paid twice as much as the above.
And yet the drivers grade has seen post graduates fail the selection process or have left shortly after qualifying when the job and shifts have become a little too much for them.Driving a tube train requires training, a degree of skill and some anti social hours - though no degree, formal registration or post graduate qualification.
Look at nursing, policing, firefighting, engineering, teaching or social working.
Now tell me why a tube driver on entry is paid twice as much as the above.
Qualifications (formal or otherwise) are no guarantee of a decent driver - perhaps thats why there is no real need for them before applying for any positions.
sidicks said:
Or to put it another way, what makes your job so difficult that you should be paid more than 2.5x national average wage?
I have posted the facts about my job which is a mainline driver, whats involved in the selection and training, and how to apply for anyone who maybe interested, even gave some heads up on it. My company thinks that I am worth it as they pay my wages, maybe you should ask my CEO about railway pay and why he is way above the national wage, btw our last strike was in 1999 for 1 day.
There is obviously a complete breakdown in industrial relations on LU, BJ should be held to blame for making a public announcement before any agreement was made.
And in relation to the average wage are you above or below it? If you are above it then why do you think you should be?
legzr1 said:
And yet the drivers grade has seen post graduates fail the selection process or have left shortly after qualifying when the job and shifts have become a little too much for them.
Qualifications (formal or otherwise) are no guarantee of a decent driver - perhaps thats why there is no real need for them before applying for any positions.
I can imagine that the mind-numbing tedium of the job would quickly grind down those of a more sensitive nature.Qualifications (formal or otherwise) are no guarantee of a decent driver - perhaps thats why there is no real need for them before applying for any positions.
Which is why the whole system is crying out for a 100% driverless automated solution.
The kindest thing would be to put the drivers out of their misery (as well as ours), and free them to employ their talents elsewhere.
audikentman said:
I have posted the facts about my job which is a mainline driver, whats involved in the selection and training, and how to apply for anyone who maybe interested, even gave some heads up on it.
My company thinks that I am worth it as they pay my wages, maybe you should ask my CEO about railway pay and why he is way above the national wage, btw our last strike was in 1999 for 1 day.
There is obviously a complete breakdown in industrial relations on LU, BJ should be held to blame for making a public announcement before any agreement was made.
And in relation to the average wage are you above or below it? If you are above it then why do you think you should be?
Fair enough.My company thinks that I am worth it as they pay my wages, maybe you should ask my CEO about railway pay and why he is way above the national wage, btw our last strike was in 1999 for 1 day.
There is obviously a complete breakdown in industrial relations on LU, BJ should be held to blame for making a public announcement before any agreement was made.
And in relation to the average wage are you above or below it? If you are above it then why do you think you should be?
The is a thread about tube drivers...
But to answer your question, I am above it, which I feel is justified due to the rigorous educational standards required, plus extremely difficult technical qualifications alongside over 20 years of experience.
sidicks said:
Fair enough.
The is a thread about tube drivers...
But to answer your question, I am above it, which I feel is justified due to the rigorous educational standards required, plus extremely difficult technical qualifications alongside over 20 years of experience.
but not English language as a qualification? ''The is a thread about tube drivers''The is a thread about tube drivers...
But to answer your question, I am above it, which I feel is justified due to the rigorous educational standards required, plus extremely difficult technical qualifications alongside over 20 years of experience.
I guess passing a full assessment every year and my 15 years driving and a 100% incident free safety record, and pretty minimal sickness record count for nothing?
Chlamydia said:
I also work on the Tube and I'm also in the RMT, (but only because of the closed shop that 'doesn't exist').
I've never gone on strike and neither have any of my colleagues, (we're all engineers and technicians). Pay has gone up slightly and obviously we'd prefer it went up more but we understand there is a finite amount of money and we are already very well compensated. (My pay has risen a bit more on a couple of occasions because I was promoted after performance reviews). We regularly have to change shifts at short notice but as we are paid well we do it, it's all part of the package. When the night Tube comes in we'll also have more tasks to carry out but we won't strike because, (and I realise that this is becoming repetitive), we are very well paid for it.
As for getting in late a couple of nights I can only say, "Aw diddums"! My previous career was in the Armed Forces where I was regularly away for months at a time, (and paid crap wages for it too BTW).
And who was it that was moaning about being stuck in a train cab for hours? My heart bleeds that you have to suffer that comfy seat in your air-conditioned cab while us engineers are deep under London in the tunnels, ankle deep in oil and rat droppings, alternately freezing our nuts off or sweating bullets in the dark, filthy conditions. But, again, we are paid very well for it so we do it.
Few of us however are paid as well as the drivers. None of us will be striking.
Great! Although not a driver, this is the attitude I expect from staff with a backbone I've never gone on strike and neither have any of my colleagues, (we're all engineers and technicians). Pay has gone up slightly and obviously we'd prefer it went up more but we understand there is a finite amount of money and we are already very well compensated. (My pay has risen a bit more on a couple of occasions because I was promoted after performance reviews). We regularly have to change shifts at short notice but as we are paid well we do it, it's all part of the package. When the night Tube comes in we'll also have more tasks to carry out but we won't strike because, (and I realise that this is becoming repetitive), we are very well paid for it.
As for getting in late a couple of nights I can only say, "Aw diddums"! My previous career was in the Armed Forces where I was regularly away for months at a time, (and paid crap wages for it too BTW).
And who was it that was moaning about being stuck in a train cab for hours? My heart bleeds that you have to suffer that comfy seat in your air-conditioned cab while us engineers are deep under London in the tunnels, ankle deep in oil and rat droppings, alternately freezing our nuts off or sweating bullets in the dark, filthy conditions. But, again, we are paid very well for it so we do it.
Few of us however are paid as well as the drivers. None of us will be striking.
So what is your employer messes you about (seemingly deliberately, although I doubt it)- get on with it and don't affect the lives of thousands of Londoners, visitors and tourists with a childish strike.
Not sure about your PH handle though - hope it clears up
Edited by AMG Merc on Wednesday 15th July 00:44
sidicks said:
Are we back to the 'train drivers aren't paid too much, everyone else is paid too little' argument...?!
Or to put it another way, what makes your job so difficult that you should be paid more than 2.5x national average wage?
As you've said, this is about tube drivers.Or to put it another way, what makes your job so difficult that you should be paid more than 2.5x national average wage?
In London.
Where the average wage is around £41,000. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/11312096/The-cities-where-you-can-earn-the-highest-wages.html)
Not quite 2.5X the average for the area is it?
Rigorous educational standards you say?
Or perhaps it's another attempt to distort things to suit your argument?
eharding said:
I can imagine that the mind-numbing tedium of the job would quickly grind down those of a more sensitive nature.
Which is why the whole system is crying out for a 100% driverless automated solution.
The kindest thing would be to put the drivers out of their misery (as well as ours), and free them to employ their talents elsewhere.
Perhaps tedium plays a part but my previous comments concern mainline passenger and freight driving too.Which is why the whole system is crying out for a 100% driverless automated solution.
The kindest thing would be to put the drivers out of their misery (as well as ours), and free them to employ their talents elsewhere.
My point remains though - I've been in the grade for over 20 years now and I've seen various characters come and go.
Some of the best drivers I've ever had the pleasure to work with left school at 15 without any qualifications whatsoever.
Some of the dimmest people I've ever worked with had exceptional qualifications but were near the back of the queue when common sense and humility were handed out.
No doubt there are clever people out there already driving or may be thinking of applying and they will do just fine but some seem to think that education = top pay - in some situations it doesn't quite work out that way.
Still, there's always middle-management - they're always crying out for post-graduates with massive debts that need clearing...
I like your final sentence - akin to the release of the pit ponies for their final years after a hard, gruesome life down the pits.
Maybe you're right, maybe it is time to start on the long road to full automation.
Just as long as all the staff still working there are treated with a little less contempt until that day comes.
Personally, I couldn't do the job and I wouldn't do the job for twice the salary.
sidicks said:
Or to put it another way, what makes your job so difficult that you should be paid more than 2.5x national average wage?
Along with the actual driving the train part, and my safety record I mentioned which now involves not only on-board recording of driving but remote 'real time' monitoring. I've never jumped a red light or sped on the railway in 15 years, I hope all the car drivers can say the same. If you do speed then under 5% and 1st time someone will 'have a word' then the next its progresses, 5% and above you are possibly looking at suspension and removal from the driving grade. Additionally I have more than once had to deal with someone being taken ill on a train and carrying out CPR, had to act as a bouncer due to fights breaking out, normally men who have been drinking, they usually pull the emergency stop in the middle of nowhere as well (funny how everyone else on the train melts into the background), act as a security guard because its so hard for people to remember to take a bag with them (the railway even makes announcements to remind people to take bags and belongings with them yet they still forget) if I wasn't so honest I could have a nice 2nd job selling phones, mobiles and luggage, also reuniting children and parents. None of these are part of the job description, that's not counting the everyday normal things like broken rails, signal failures, trees, trampolines, almost every type of wildlife and domestic animals along with human trespassers on the line that's just starting and stopping and opening and closing the doors according to the PH railway experts but are part of the job. If driverless trains were bought in they would do it on freight and engineering trains first, no need to open and close doors, mainly run at night when the network is quiet and run from A- Z without stopping at B - Y on the way.
So why haven't they? Because of the cost involved and the unexpected. A computer can't detect a tree falling in front of a train, someone running across the track when the train is doing 100 mph, someone on a platform who drops a phone on the track and decides to jump down and pick it up as the train is coming into the station, someone who crosses on the track from 1 platform to the other because using the footbridge is too much effort, someone who wants to jump in front of a train because they think at that time in their life its so bad they don't want to see tomorrow. Kids who have jumped over the fence to get their football back to stop it being run over by the train that runs at the end of the garden. People who jump the level crossing barriers because they don't want to wait and think they can beat the approaching train. I don't know why people think that if they are hit by a train they will come off better, trust me they don't.
The train always wins, it just means the driver may have a visit to the coroners court.
Become a driver and I will bet you will have some or all of the above as well as a few more random incidents in your 1st year of driving.
Edited by audikentman on Wednesday 15th July 04:49
Chlamydia said:
I also work on the Tube and I'm also in the RMT, (but only because of the closed shop that 'doesn't exist').
I've never gone on strike and neither have any of my colleagues, (we're all engineers and technicians). Pay has gone up slightly and obviously we'd prefer it went up more but we understand there is a finite amount of money and we are already very well compensated. (My pay has risen a bit more on a couple of occasions because I was promoted after performance reviews). We regularly have to change shifts at short notice but as we are paid well we do it, it's all part of the package. When the night Tube comes in we'll also have more tasks to carry out but we won't strike because, (and I realise that this is becoming repetitive), we are very well paid for it.
As for getting in late a couple of nights I can only say, "Aw diddums"! My previous career was in the Armed Forces where I was regularly away for months at a time, (and paid crap wages for it too BTW).
And who was it that was moaning about being stuck in a train cab for hours? My heart bleeds that you have to suffer that comfy seat in your air-conditioned cab while us engineers are deep under London in the tunnels, ankle deep in oil and rat droppings, alternately freezing our nuts off or sweating bullets in the dark, filthy conditions. But, again, we are paid very well for it so we do it.
Few of us however are paid as well as the drivers. None of us will be striking.
At last! Someone who lives in the real world! I've never gone on strike and neither have any of my colleagues, (we're all engineers and technicians). Pay has gone up slightly and obviously we'd prefer it went up more but we understand there is a finite amount of money and we are already very well compensated. (My pay has risen a bit more on a couple of occasions because I was promoted after performance reviews). We regularly have to change shifts at short notice but as we are paid well we do it, it's all part of the package. When the night Tube comes in we'll also have more tasks to carry out but we won't strike because, (and I realise that this is becoming repetitive), we are very well paid for it.
As for getting in late a couple of nights I can only say, "Aw diddums"! My previous career was in the Armed Forces where I was regularly away for months at a time, (and paid crap wages for it too BTW).
And who was it that was moaning about being stuck in a train cab for hours? My heart bleeds that you have to suffer that comfy seat in your air-conditioned cab while us engineers are deep under London in the tunnels, ankle deep in oil and rat droppings, alternately freezing our nuts off or sweating bullets in the dark, filthy conditions. But, again, we are paid very well for it so we do it.
Few of us however are paid as well as the drivers. None of us will be striking.
audikentman said:
A computer can't detect a tree falling in front of a train, someone running across the track when the train is doing 100 mph, someone on a platform who drops a phone on the track and decides to jump down and pick it up as the train is coming into the station, someone who crosses on the track from 1 platform to the other because using the footbridge is too much effort, someone who wants to jump in front of a train because they think at that time in their life its so bad they don't want to see tomorrow. Kids who have jumped over the fence to get their football back to stop it being run over by the train that runs at the end of the garden. People who jump the level crossing barriers because they don't want to wait and think they can beat the approaching train. I don't know why people think that if they are hit by a train they will come off better, trust me they don't.
The train always wins, it just means the driver may have a visit to the coroners court.
I'm pretty sure Google and some of the manufacturers have that tech for cars already so it could clearly be adapted for trains. Having said that it couldn't do much about a fight but there's obviously a solution if 63 other services are running automatically.The train always wins, it just means the driver may have a visit to the coroners court.
The argument about whether computers can do the job is already lost. The tech is there, it's the will to implement that currently isn't. But every strike, demand and disruption pushes that a bit further along.
I'm sure there is a bit more to it than pressing a couple of buttons. But enough to justify twice the national average?
audikentman said:
Along with the actual driving the train part, and my safety record I mentioned which now involves not only on-board recording of driving but remote 'real time' monitoring. I've never jumped a red light or sped on the railway in 15 years, I hope all the car drivers can say the same. If you do speed then under 5% and 1st time someone will 'have a word' then the next its progresses, 5% and above you are possibly looking at suspension and removal from the driving grade. Additionally I have more than once had to deal with someone being taken ill on a train and carrying out CPR, had to act as a bouncer due to fights breaking out, normally men who have been drinking, they usually pull the emergency stop in the middle of nowhere as well (funny how everyone else on the train melts into the background), act as a security guard because its so hard for people to remember to take a bag with them (the railway even makes announcements to remind people to take bags and belongings with them yet they still forget) if I wasn't so honest I could have a nice 2nd job selling phones, mobiles and luggage, also reuniting children and parents. None of these are part of the job description, that's not counting the everyday normal things like broken rails, signal failures, trees, trampolines, almost every type of wildlife and domestic animals along with human trespassers on the line that's just starting and stopping and opening and closing the doors according to the PH railway experts but are part of the job.
You mentioned your safety record - are you suggesting that an exemplary record is the norm for all drivers or is it much more variable than that?How many incidents involving the emergency stop have you experienced? (In 15 years of daily commuting I've only experienced this happen once).
audikentman said:
If driverless trains were bought in they would do it on freight and engineering trains first, no need to open and close doors, mainly run at night when the network is quiet and run from A- Z without stopping at B - Y on the way.
So why haven't they? Because of the cost involved and the unexpected. A computer can't detect a tree falling in front of a train, someone running across the track when the train is doing 100 mph, someone on a platform who drops a phone on the track and decides to jump down and pick it up as the train is coming into the station, someone who crosses on the track from 1 platform to the other because using the footbridge is too much effort, someone who wants to jump in front of a train because they think at that time in their life its so bad they don't want to see tomorrow. Kids who have jumped over the fence to get their football back to stop it being run over by the train that runs at the end of the garden. People who jump the level crossing barriers because they don't want to wait and think they can beat the approaching train. I don't know why people think that if they are hit by a train they will come off better, trust me they don't.
The train always wins, it just means the driver may have a visit to the coroners court.
I agree that automation is not likely to be feasible for national rail, but fhe issues for the tube are somewhat different.So why haven't they? Because of the cost involved and the unexpected. A computer can't detect a tree falling in front of a train, someone running across the track when the train is doing 100 mph, someone on a platform who drops a phone on the track and decides to jump down and pick it up as the train is coming into the station, someone who crosses on the track from 1 platform to the other because using the footbridge is too much effort, someone who wants to jump in front of a train because they think at that time in their life its so bad they don't want to see tomorrow. Kids who have jumped over the fence to get their football back to stop it being run over by the train that runs at the end of the garden. People who jump the level crossing barriers because they don't want to wait and think they can beat the approaching train. I don't know why people think that if they are hit by a train they will come off better, trust me they don't.
The train always wins, it just means the driver may have a visit to the coroners court.
audikentman said:
Become a driver and I will bet you will have some or all of the above as well as a few more random incidents in your 1st year of driving.
Is this normal for most drivers?technodup said:
audikentman said:
A computer can't detect a tree falling in front of a train, someone running across the track when the train is doing 100 mph, someone on a platform who drops a phone on the track and decides to jump down and pick it up as the train is coming into the station, someone who crosses on the track from 1 platform to the other because using the footbridge is too much effort, someone who wants to jump in front of a train because they think at that time in their life its so bad they don't want to see tomorrow. Kids who have jumped over the fence to get their football back to stop it being run over by the train that runs at the end of the garden. People who jump the level crossing barriers because they don't want to wait and think they can beat the approaching train. I don't know why people think that if they are hit by a train they will come off better, trust me they don't.
The train always wins, it just means the driver may have a visit to the coroners court.
I'm pretty sure Google and some of the manufacturers have that tech for cars already so it could clearly be adapted for trains. Having said that it couldn't do much about a fight but there's obviously a solution if 63 other services are running automatically.The train always wins, it just means the driver may have a visit to the coroners court.
The argument about whether computers can do the job is already lost. The tech is there, it's the will to implement that currently isn't. But every strike, demand and disruption pushes that a bit further along.
I'm sure there is a bit more to it than pressing a couple of buttons. But enough to justify twice the national average?
Who will you vent your envy and frustration at when your automated trains are out of service (at no notice!)due to some technical glitch? You'll be blaming those IT consultants then, and just look at how much they earn!
legzr1 said:
As you've said, this is about tube drivers.
In London.
Where the average wage is around £41,000. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/11312096/The-cities-where-you-can-earn-the-highest-wages.html)
Not quite 2.5X the average for the area is it?
Rigorous educational standards you say?
Or perhaps it's another attempt to distort things to suit your argument?
Audikentman, who the question was addressed to, isn't a tube driver in London.In London.
Where the average wage is around £41,000. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/11312096/The-cities-where-you-can-earn-the-highest-wages.html)
Not quite 2.5X the average for the area is it?
Rigorous educational standards you say?
Or perhaps it's another attempt to distort things to suit your argument?
HTH
sidicks said:
You mentioned your safety record - are you suggesting that an exemplary record is the norm for all drivers or is it much more variable than that?
Don't know tbh, I have a colleague who has done 32 years and is blemish free, yet others take the job on thinking easy money and don't last more than a year because they are not suitable for the job.sidicks said:
How many incidents involving the emergency stop have you experienced? (In 15 years of daily commuting I've only experienced this happen once).
As a guess on average 1 every 6months, you have had it once on your commute which is 1 hour? we on average do 8 1 hour trips a day but it depends on a lot of factors, the area, the time of year and the time of day, this time of year it trespassers on the line, anyone with kids at home alone during the summer holidays, do you really know what they are doing? But come Autumn and high winds its obstructions on the line, the past couple of years there have been a lot of trees down and landslips The daily commute is probably the easiest time for a driver, not that much unexpected tends to happen apart form infrastructure problems and the knock on effects.sidicks said:
I agree that automation is not likely to be feasible for national rail, but fhe issues for the tube are somewhat different.
You would be suprised how much of 'The Underground' is actually above ground. But as an example on the mainline the current rebuilding of London Bridge station and the Thameslink track is costing £10 Billion, for this you will be getting a new station and trains that will run automatically at the push of a button between the signal sections, they will also need new rolling stock to run on the signalling at £1million a coach.sidicks said:
Is this normal for most drivers?
From my hazy memory my 1st year I had the emergency cord pulled due to a fight, a fire on the train due to kids setting the newspapers on fire and a fire on the shoe gear due to hitting and obstruction on the line in the dark, and a woman assaulted late at night.technodup said:
'm pretty sure Google and some of the manufacturers have that tech for cars already so it could clearly be adapted for trains.
So why isn't it up and running for cars yet? No doubt it would be more efficient on fuel and safer. Honestly whats the worst that can happen? Even if the software crashes the car will just stop, if it crashes maybe 4 people will be involved at 70 mph with all the airbags and seatbelts, you could have software that only moves the car if everyone is buckled up fitted to cars, the injuries will be minimal at low speed in town crashes.Now scale this up to trains and tubes 1,000 people maybe 50% standing, no seatbelts, no airbags, HS1 travelling at 140mph, HST at 125mph even London Metro services do 60mph. Tubes at 40mph I guess that's why its not happened yet.
I'm sure if it could be done then the Chinese, Japanese or Germans would have done so. Even the famed and much more modern, (and running on more modern infrastructure) Bullet train, ICE train and the Maglevs have a driver.
eccles said:
It's the 'what if' scenario. The technology has been there to make aircraft automated for many years, but as has been shown on many occasions, having a driver at the pointy end is very useful when things go wrong.
Who will you vent your envy and frustration at when your automated trains are out of service (at no notice!)due to some technical glitch? You'll be blaming those IT consultants then, and just look at how much they earn!
That sounds just like the driverless DLR then Who will you vent your envy and frustration at when your automated trains are out of service (at no notice!)due to some technical glitch? You'll be blaming those IT consultants then, and just look at how much they earn!
. It all stops when the control room staff go on strike.audikentman said:
I'm sure if it could be done then the Chinese, Japanese or Germans would have done so. Even the famed and much more modern, (and running on more modern infrastructure) Bullet train, ICE train and the Maglevs have a driver.
Here's the list of the various types of auto or semi auto services. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automated_ur...
AFAIK with cars it's the legal/insurance/legislative bits that need addressed rather than the tech. But either way for anyone to deny the direction of travel (excuse the pun) is to stick their dinosaur head firmly in the sand.
They'd be better spending the time trying to find an equivalent job that pays equivalent money. Because it'll take a while.
Chlamydia said:
itannum990 said:
Because you are in a position to receive a pay rise without the need to threaten to strike?
And for your other point, I'd take a drop in pay if it meant that I had the opportunity to travel for work, travelling outside of south London anyway!
I also work on the Tube and I'm also in the RMT, (but only because of the closed shop that 'doesn't exist'). And for your other point, I'd take a drop in pay if it meant that I had the opportunity to travel for work, travelling outside of south London anyway!
I've never gone on strike and neither have any of my colleagues, (we're all engineers and technicians). Pay has gone up slightly and obviously we'd prefer it went up more but we understand there is a finite amount of money and we are already very well compensated. (My pay has risen a bit more on a couple of occasions because I was promoted after performance reviews). We regularly have to change shifts at short notice but as we are paid well we do it, it's all part of the package. When the night Tube comes in we'll also have more tasks to carry out but we won't strike because, (and I realise that this is becoming repetitive), we are very well paid for it.
As for getting in late a couple of nights I can only say, "Aw diddums"! My previous career was in the Armed Forces where I was regularly away for months at a time, (and paid crap wages for it too BTW).
And who was it that was moaning about being stuck in a train cab for hours? My heart bleeds that you have to suffer that comfy seat in your air-conditioned cab while us engineers are deep under London in the tunnels, ankle deep in oil and rat droppings, alternately freezing our nuts off or sweating bullets in the dark, filthy conditions. But, again, we are paid very well for it so we do it.
Few of us however are paid as well as the drivers. None of us will be striking.
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