Boxing day tube strikes

mark5

A_Doonhamer wrote: »

Those who strike for anything other than safety can gtf as far as I am concerned.

Well said!

dacouch

Ryan did the tube staff not sign an agreement on bank holidays fairly recently ???

It's seems to me that as boxing day is not classed as a bank holiday and the agreement you signed only paid for bank holidays that you want your cake and to eat it. Are the staff going to do something about their union leaders who have signed them up to something without taking into account that sometimes boxing day is not a bank holiday...

P.S Are the staff who work on the official bank holiday forgoing their extra pay etc...

molerat

ryantcb wrote: »

Before everyone moans about tube drivers striking on boxing day. I would like to explain it from a drivers point of view.

First point to clear up is the amount of holiday we get.
we get 8 weeks but that included all public holidays and we work 40 hours a week and only get paid 35 so those extra 5 hours per week go towards the 8 weeks. Getting paid very handsomely for it too.

Why not work boxing day?
On the tube we dont get to decide when we have our holidays they are allocated on a period based system {the weeks in the year are divided into periods 1-13}. Period 4 may have xmas off but the other 12 do not. Assuming you start period 5 the next will be 6,7 etc until it rolls back to 5. So again assuming you started work at period 5 you have worked and waited 12 years until you got Christmas off. So you have done your 12 years without spending it with your family but now this year finally you get to be there and suddenly your employers change the rules and you have to work. Is that right? Many others have their holidays decided for them. I had one boxing day off in 15 years, get over it.

triple pay
Its a negotiation and we started high but who doesnt when negotiating? Many now do not get any premiums as BH's do not exist. You get the extra days plus paid premium when worked

I think you get the idea of the public feeling. Grow up.

Stigy

I thought the strike had been called off?

Okay, although I generally think Tube/Train drivers get paid very well and pretty much get what they want anyway, without the need to strike (I'd imagine because the TfL have a lot to lose if 90% of tube drivers strike!), I think striking over conditions is a p*ss poor excuse, as they're very good anyway. Having said that, why not try and queeze as much out of the company as possible? It's human nature to want as much money and to work as few hours as feasable, surely?

I don't like it when people assume train driving is an easy job, because it isn't. I've never been a train driver but have been in the rail industry for a few years, and have seen the impact a "one under" has on all staff concerned, mainly the train driver! Most if not all people here will remember such disasters as Ladbrook Grove, Clapham and Poters Bar. Although few and far between these days, such extremities are still very real possibilities and carrying several hundred passengers at a time is a big responsibility, and in my opinion warrants the 30, 40 and often £50,000 a year saleries. Driving a train takes extensive training and the amount each driver has to know is unreal. How easy is it to stop on a platform in weather such as we've been having recently? How easy is it to stop in thick fog? How do you think a "One Under" (person under the train such as suicide) affects the driver? What happens if a train de-rails at 90-mph? What happens if the train breaks down and it's not instantly feasible to summon a fitter? All of these things are what train drivers have to deal with.

Also, what happens if you make a mistake, ie; Cat A SPAD (Signal Passed At Danger) and end up out of a job? Where else is the driver going to get a job that pays so well? Probably nowhere unless he's well qualified in another industry!

dacouch

Stiggy, now try thinking along the same lines for someone such as a nurse, their training is many years longer, they work longer hours, earn considerably less, deal with life and death situations every day and all for considerably less than a train driver.

They of course also have the possibility of losing their job if they make a mistake and not being able to apply their skills to another job.

Their is a massive over subscription for train driver jobs as it is a cushy number and very well paid.

I know who gets my respect and it is not a strike happy train driver who signs up to an agreement and then decides to renege on it

Torry_Quine

You talk about not having Christmas off for up to 12 years but I didn't think that the tube ran on Christmas day? Many people work on holidays and don't get any extra money at all so you should be extremely grateful for what you do get. As others have said the 27th & 28th are holidays and presumably will be the days you get extra for.

lucylucky

I have no real issue with people striking as a last resort when negotiations break down but I am interested as to why you work 40 hours per week yet only get paid for 35. How does that work?

I worked on Xmas and New Year for 15 years in a row. I knew that was a possibility when I started my job, if I had wanted to guarantee time off I would have changed jobs.

fuzzybear01

I'm a Nurse and working boxing day for time and two-thirds. I now have the hassle of getting a really long bus journey into work so thanks a lot. I work in Intensive Care and I'm having to look after very sick ventilated patients, with the likelihood of no incremental pay rise to reflect my ongoing development. I have to admit this has really !!!!!! me off today.

Oh and just to add, some of my colleagues are working Christmas day, and pay is only time and one-third. Yet no-one moans about it because they knew the terms when they started.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Stigy wrote: »

I thought the strike had been called off?

Okay, although I generally think Tube/Train drivers get paid very well and pretty much get what they want anyway, without the need to strike (I'd imagine because the TfL have a lot to lose if 90% of tube drivers strike!), I think striking over conditions is a p*ss poor excuse, as they're very good anyway. Having said that, why not try and queeze as much out of the company as possible? It's human nature to want as much money and to work as few hours as feasable, surely?

I don't like it when people assume train driving is an easy job, because it isn't. I've never been a train driver but have been in the rail industry for a few years, and have seen the impact a "one under" has on all staff concerned, mainly the train driver! Most if not all people here will remember such disasters as Ladbrook Grove, Clapham and Poters Bar. Although few and far between these days, such extremities are still very real possibilities and carrying several hundred passengers at a time is a big responsibility, and in my opinion warrants the 30, 40 and often £50,000 a year saleries. Driving a train takes extensive training and the amount each driver has to know is unreal. How easy is it to stop on a platform in weather such as we've been having recently? How easy is it to stop in thick fog? How do you think a "One Under" (person under the train such as suicide) affects the driver? What happens if a train de-rails at 90-mph? What happens if the train breaks down and it's not instantly feasible to summon a fitter? All of these things are what train drivers have to deal with.

Also, what happens if you make a mistake, ie; Cat A SPAD (Signal Passed At Danger) and end up out of a job? Where else is the driver going to get a job that pays so well? Probably nowhere unless he's well qualified in another industry!

Stigy dont confuse national rail with the underground. They are worlds apart from how they operate to what happens if a red light is ran.

Most Underground trains are automatic anyway so all the driver does is open doors close doors and press a button to say all is well and off it trots. As for running a red light it would come to a complete stop very quickly as this is what they are programmed to do.


Luckylucky - they bank the extra 5 hours they work to take the time off. Of course the diagrams they work mean they dont work a train solidly every day as they have PNBs and resting time too.

Stigy

Jeff_Bridges_hair wrote: »

Stigy dont confuse national rail with the underground. They are worlds apart from how they operate to what happens if a red light is ran.

Most Underground trains are automatic anyway so all the driver does is open doors close doors and press a button to say all is well and off it trots. As for running a red light it would come to a complete stop very quickly as this is what they are programmed to do.


Luckylucky - they bank the extra 5 hours they work to take the time off. Of course the diagrams they work mean they dont work a train solidly every day as they have PNBs and resting time too.

I'm well aware they're programmed to do this, and it's the same with overground trains. They're all fail-safe now, and as soon as a signal is compromised the train will stop. Obviously the stopping distance would be increased in an overground train, significantly more than that of an underground train, due to the overall speed of the trains comparitively. All trains have ATWS (Automatic Train Warning System) too, so that the driver is always alert. If they ignore the system when it beeps, for more than a few seconds, the brakes are applied. All that being said, the fact remains the same that both LUL and TOCs frown upon drivers running red lights, even if, chances are, the train will come to a safe stop and not hurt anybody (unless for example the run signal is on a level crossing....).