RMT union vote for a national rail strike

RMT union vote for a national rail strike

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monkfish1

11,034 posts

224 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
quotequote all
NuckyThompson said:
RacerMike said:
Assuming this is going to be next Thursday/Friday? Which is particularly rubbish for me as I need to get to Heathrow for a flight to NY and had booked my train tickets the other day.

Takes the P a little bit that they’re striking over pay when the average wage according to Glassdoor is 54k for a 40hr a week contract….
What you want them to do? Take a pay cut and allow the rail companies to make even greater profits?

The strike is the result not the root cause
Im thinking you have no clue about the industry structure.

The train operators are all on management contracts. Profit level is agreed and set by government

If they did cut pay, the benefit would be to the tresury.

chemistry

2,145 posts

109 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
quotequote all
Most people won’t care; just switch to Zoom.

It will only really affect those who have to use the train…nurses, doctors, those sort of folks. Hardly bankers, politicians and the rest.

The RMT are idiots. Just hastening their members’ decline.

rigga

8,728 posts

201 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
quotequote all
RMT are nowhere near as powerful as they used to be .

ASLEF the drivers union on the other hand ....

foxbody-87

2,675 posts

166 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
quotequote all
Dblue said:
Like all of us are facing for the next year or two. Forcing 10% wage rises through a very powerful union is exactly the reason why inflation will likely continue to be a big problem.
The RMT members have some very very well paid members already, wages for drivers on London Underground work out at around 3 times that of a nurse for example.

It's sod all to do with profits of train companies , they do it because they can.
Probably worth pointing out that the majority of drivers are members of ASLEF, not the RMT.
Also, nobody disagrees that nurses are underpaid but the RMT don't have bargaining rights for them I'm afraid - that would be the job of Unison or whichever union they pay to represent their interests.

valiant

10,178 posts

160 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
quotequote all
rigga said:
RMT are nowhere near as powerful as they used to be .

ASLEF the drivers union on the other hand ....
RMT represent signal and control room staff though. That WILL cause a lot of disruption (as in no service at all) if they go out.

Lot of people think that it’s just drivers that cause the mayhem by striking when in fact it’s a small band of workers like signalmen and controllers that can completely shut the job down. Can have all the drivers in the world turn up but not a wheel will turn if the ROC/ local cabin staff go out…

valiant

10,178 posts

160 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
quotequote all
foxbody-87 said:
Dblue said:
Like all of us are facing for the next year or two. Forcing 10% wage rises through a very powerful union is exactly the reason why inflation will likely continue to be a big problem.
The RMT members have some very very well paid members already, wages for drivers on London Underground work out at around 3 times that of a nurse for example.

It's sod all to do with profits of train companies , they do it because they can.
Probably worth pointing out that the majority of drivers are members of ASLEF, not the RMT.
Also, nobody disagrees that nurses are underpaid but the RMT don't have bargaining rights for them I'm afraid - that would be the job of Unison or whichever union they pay to represent their interests.
And Underground drivers do not get three times a nurses wage unless a nurse earns around £20k

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

198 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
quotequote all
Johnnytheboy said:
Remind me again why I should give my car up and use public transport?
You shouldn’t. For a single person it’s the cheapest mode of transport - add in one passenger quids in add in 3 kids too and it’s buttons per person to travel vs the train cost.

ZedLeg

12,278 posts

108 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
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Starting salaries for nurses isn’t much more than minimum wage iirc.

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

198 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
quotequote all
soxboy said:
According to BBC 'The union said its leaders would meet to discuss a timetable for strike action from mid-June'.

Apparently the RMT say "members want a decent pay rise, job security and no compulsory redundancies". We all would love that, but not going to get any sympathy for striking about it.
Issue is RMT staff need to right size the workforce.

With WFH happening and stabilising there simply isn’t the work for the staff they had. Unless things dramatically change they never will. So you cannot guarantee any job in any company for starters and with this push redundancy is also a real possibility.

rigga

8,728 posts

201 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
quotequote all
valiant said:
rigga said:
RMT are nowhere near as powerful as they used to be .

ASLEF the drivers union on the other hand ....
RMT represent signal and control room staff though. That WILL cause a lot of disruption (as in no service at all) if they go out.

Lot of people think that it’s just drivers that cause the mayhem by striking when in fact it’s a small band of workers like signalmen and controllers that can completely shut the job down. Can have all the drivers in the world turn up but not a wheel will turn if the ROC/ local cabin staff go out…
No I agree, there are many sections of the railway, all doing their bit as a whole, to make the system run.
But when there are disputes, I found that the RMT wasn't very cohesive, and pushing in the same direction for different grades.
ASLEF always stuck to their guns, and pretty much got what they were looking for.

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

198 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
quotequote all
ZedLeg said:
Starting salaries for nurses isn’t much more than minimum wage iirc.
https://www.nurses.co.uk/blog/what-s-the-typical-starting-wage-for-a-nurse-in-the-uk-in-2022/

It’s £25k typically so 26% more than minimum wage

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

198 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
quotequote all
rigga said:
No I agree, there are many sections of the railway, all doing their bit as a whole, to make the system run.
But when there are disputes, I found that the RMT wasn't very cohesive, and pushing in the same direction for different grades.
ASLEF always stuck to their guns, and pretty much got what they were looking for.
All I say is please put up rail ticket prices specifically to fund this - no govt help please.
We might see how foot fall goes … I suspect decreases.

ZedLeg

12,278 posts

108 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
quotequote all
Welshbeef said:
ZedLeg said:
Starting salaries for nurses isn’t much more than minimum wage iirc.
https://www.nurses.co.uk/blog/what-s-the-typical-starting-wage-for-a-nurse-in-the-uk-in-2022/

It’s 25k typically so 26% more than minimum wage
My mistake, I was maybe thinking of less qualified healthcare workers.

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

198 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
quotequote all
ZedLeg said:
Welshbeef said:
ZedLeg said:
Starting salaries for nurses isn’t much more than minimum wage iirc.
https://www.nurses.co.uk/blog/what-s-the-typical-starting-wage-for-a-nurse-in-the-uk-in-2022/

It’s 25k typically so 26% more than minimum wage
My mistake, I was maybe thinking of less qualified healthcare workers.
Given what I’ve seen nurses do I think £25k is so undervaluing a rate especially when unskilled Labour is £19.7k.
Though to up all the grades is going to mean further National insurance increases…

oyster

12,589 posts

248 months

Tuesday 24th May 2022
quotequote all
NuckyThompson said:
What you want them to do? Take a pay cut and allow the rail companies to make even greater profits?

The strike is the result not the root cause
Your point on profits of rail companies - I can’t find much info on what the RMT are asking for versus what the TOCs are offering. And also can’t recall the current revenue/profits of said TOCs at the moment.
What numbers are you using to base your viewpoint on?

Genuinely interested.

Leicester Loyal

4,536 posts

122 months

Wednesday 25th May 2022
quotequote all
The payrise is the last thing on the agenda for me, it's more to do with changing of T&Cs, forcing us to do more nights, more weekends, trying to remove our enhancements, redundancies, making teams smaller from 3 men to 2. A lot of it is gonna compromise safety, whilst asking your staff to do more.

I also don't think we're expecting to get inflation or anywhere near 11%, reckon 5-6% is all we'll get and we'll accept that, but offering us no payrise, or a 1% payrise isn't gonna wash, when we've not had one since 2020. We see first hand the amount of money the railway wastes, yet rather than do something about that they'll pass the costs onto staff members, whilst spunking billions upon billions up the wall.

Some of the figures in the media are total bull btw, most of us earn a decent wage but it totally depends on your discipline and your T&Cs, a lot of us are either on the national average salary or on just above it, it's not all train drivers on 50k basic etc.

We'll get a lot of hate (as I probably will for this post), but the past generations fought for these rights and I hope we continue to do the same.

Edited by Leicester Loyal on Wednesday 25th May 01:13


Edited by Leicester Loyal on Wednesday 25th May 01:15

armchair expert

2,483 posts

74 months

Wednesday 25th May 2022
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Maybe pay rises should be decided by independant body that gives pay rises to MPs.

Johnnytheboy

24,498 posts

186 months

Wednesday 25th May 2022
quotequote all
Do they struggle to recruit railway staff because of the low wages?

JagLover

42,378 posts

235 months

Wednesday 25th May 2022
quotequote all
NuckyThompson said:
Johnnytheboy said:
They aren't taking a pay cut.
Unless the offer they turned down is 10% it would be a real world pay cut
In the real world salaries aren't rising by 10% in the private sector either. Pay is up by either 4% or 5.4% (depending on whether you include bonuses) year on year.

Hopefully all employers that can will announce WFH on those days and the RMT will see their attempts at extortion fail.

Kwackersaki

1,379 posts

228 months

Wednesday 25th May 2022
quotequote all
Leicester Loyal said:
The payrise is the last thing on the agenda for me, it's more to do with changing of T&Cs, forcing us to do more nights, more weekends, trying to remove our enhancements, redundancies, making teams smaller from 3 men to 2. A lot of it is gonna compromise safety, whilst asking your staff to do more.

I also don't think we're expecting to get inflation or anywhere near 11%, reckon 5-6% is all we'll get and we'll accept that, but offering us no payrise, or a 1% payrise isn't gonna wash, when we've not had one since 2020. We see first hand the amount of money the railway wastes, yet rather than do something about that they'll pass the costs onto staff members, whilst spunking billions upon billions up the wall.

Some of the figures in the media are total bull btw, most of us earn a decent wage but it totally depends on your discipline and your T&Cs, a lot of us are either on the national average salary or on just above it, it's not all train drivers on 50k basic etc.

We'll get a lot of hate (as I probably will for this post), but the past generations fought for these rights and I hope we continue to do the same.

Edited by Leicester Loyal on Wednesday 25th May 01:13


Edited by Leicester Loyal on Wednesday 25th May 01:15
Genuine question, in what ways do they waste money?

I work in manufacturing in the private sector and it always amazes me how much companies waste and how resistant people are to change to prevent it.