Boxing day tube strikes

alastairq

Striking is a last resort.....and occurs when the majority of Union members [who voted.....tough luck on those that didn't!].................vote, in a democratic manner, for that particular course of action.


It costs income, and possibly jobs, it costs friendships, and respect.

It isn't entered into lightly!


yet from some of the posts on here, the perception is, it is a few trouble makers out for mischief at the toss of a coin.


That is the likely perception of the travelling public concerned.


And knowing the 'travelling' public [especially in London] as I do, I'd say they are getting what they deserve.......


Why is it the strikers who are inconveniencing the travelling public anyway?

There are other sides to the dispute as well.......

How often do we see/hear the travelling public complain about management's attitudes towards the dispute?


When in reality, it is often managements' intransigence [ie, other agendas]....which leads to strike action by a workforce.

To halt a strike action, all folk have to do is say 'let's talk'.....


When considering the job a tube driver does.......[whilst I am aware, working for London UndergrounD isn't compulsory....there are choices.....but then, neither is living in London, working in London, or using the UndergrounD mandatory either........obvioulsy there are greater influences...like, money, and erm...oh yes, money...then there's..oooooh..money? that compels folk to work and live in London?] don't forget, the driver does pretty much all of his/her work in the dark.....


And..you London ..erm..inhabitants...want automated trains?

where you are entirely within the hands of some half-baked programmer to get it right, and cover all the bases?

Not me, mate...never!

bigjl

I personally think the tube drivers are overpaid, always have been, they do nothing but move a lever back and forth and follow signals, they are on around £1k a year more than a Paramedic or Police Constable which is an absolute joke.


You !!!!! and moan about how you have a hard life and you say you get 8 weeks holiday a year, is that all, not enough you should all get 12 months holiday a year and get replaced with somebody who knows that getting the best part of £50k a year for a job as easy as yours is on to a good thing.:mad:

bigjl

ryantcb wrote: »

I think you'll find that the terms of the contracts did not include working boxing day, thus we are negotiating.

I think you will find that this was written into your last contract that your Union negotiated, this wasn't a problem until you found boxing Day falling on a Sunday so the Bank holiday was Monday and you have thwon your dty from the pram as you are a bunch of lazy greedy halfwits.

The LAS and other NHS workers have a contract called A4C which puts all our unsocial hours in one big payment, subject to rostered unsocial hours over a 3 month period. This means that is you are rostered to work on Boxing Day wether it is Monday, Tuesday or even Sunday you get paid standard money, unless on OT.

I suppose we could strike and cost a few lives, but we knew what was in the contract when we signed it, you know hold London to ransom like you lot are doing, but there is a moral code that normal people follow, maybe the Tube drivers hould consider this when you strike through pure greed and the simple fact you signed a contract without reading it properly, you have nobody to blame but yourselves anfd your Union, management out smarted you this time, or rather last time, they gave you what you wanted last time but added this little cherry in as payment.

Now get back to work.

I know the first crew on scene at the, I think, Cannon Street tube crash, the reason for the crash, the tube driver was stoned out of his box on reefer, yup must be a really hard job you have there.

I would sack the lot of you that have striked and replace with commited staff that want to serve the travelling public, maybe NHS and Police staff should offer to job share, would be a nice well paid cushy number for everybody.

And it would stop tube drivers striking because they had a kettle rather than a boiler at their rest stop room, meaning that managment where "stealing" part of their break waiting for a kettle to boil, oh yes you couldn't make it up with tube drivers.

bigjl

robt wrote: »

Wow. Seriously brainwashed.

Atr least we have brains to wash, don't forget to pull the lever.........

I take it from your comments you have been under a tube train doing trauma care? No, well let me tell you it is not nice, stuck in a space little higher than the safety helmet you are wearing with a severely injured patient squashed into the same small space.

But it's OK, we get to have a cup of tea before going back out on the run an hour or so later, you muppets don't know you are born, and I would apply for an easy number like that, but have you ever tried applying these days, all jobs for the boys and nepitism these days, obvious really when you see how easy the job is, I have more respect for the staff that work at the ticket barriers as there job is much more difficult.

To be honest though most LU workers have a misguided view on their importance, they just have the ability to damage the economy when they don't get what they want, you have an easy life, just admit it, we would have more respect for you then, you are almost as bad as Black Cab drivers going on about how there is no money in the trade these days, really? I have lots of mates that have their Green Badge and they are doing very nicely thanks, £1000 a week working P/T hours, very nice, Wizann here I come.

robt_2

bigjl wrote: »

Atr least we have brains to wash, don't forget to pull the lever.........

I take it from your comments you have been under a tube train doing trauma care? No, well let me tell you it is not nice, stuck in a space little higher than the safety helmet you are wearing with a severely injured patient squashed into the same small space.

But it's OK, we get to have a cup of tea before going back out on the run an hour or so later, you muppets don't know you are born, and I would apply for an easy number like that, but have you ever tried applying these days, all jobs for the boys and nepitism these days, obvious really when you see how easy the job is, I have more respect for the staff that work at the ticket barriers as there job is much more difficult.

To be honest though most LU workers have a misguided view on their importance, they just have the ability to damage the economy when they don't get what they want, you have an easy life, just admit it, we would have more respect for you then, you are almost as bad as Black Cab drivers going on about how there is no money in the trade these days, really? I have lots of mates that have their Green Badge and they are doing very nicely thanks, £1000 a week working P/T hours, very nice, Wizann here I come.

I have no idea whose 'side' you are on from a single quote (out of context) from ten or so pages ago. You seem to be both for and against. Oh, and I have never once said that driving is easy or overpaid, or indeed that I even work in the industry. So once you have engaged the lever to switch on your own brain, we will be able to discuss something properly. Until then, your comments are pretty worthless.

Stigy

bigjl wrote: »

Atr least we have brains to wash, don't forget to pull the lever.........

I take it from your comments you have been under a tube train doing trauma care? No, well let me tell you it is not nice, stuck in a space little higher than the safety helmet you are wearing with a severely injured patient squashed into the same small space.

But it's OK, we get to have a cup of tea before going back out on the run an hour or so later, you muppets don't know you are born, and I would apply for an easy number like that, but have you ever tried applying these days, all jobs for the boys and nepitism these days, obvious really when you see how easy the job is, I have more respect for the staff that work at the ticket barriers as there job is much more difficult.

So you were obviously forced in to your chosen profession then? No, I thought not. I'm assuming you're a Paramedic of some desciption? Name calling towards people you've never met really isn't something I'd expect of a supposed "caring" person. I sure hope you didn't attend any sites on 7 July 2005! That would have been interesting, given the target was London's transport system!

bigjl

No the target was the members of the public on the transport syatem and the staff sent to help, or did you not read my posts fully.



Just to reiterate for those that think striking like bunch of children is correct in these testing economic times.


The LU drivers are overpaid already and they are just being greedy and selfish with this latest action, they signed the contract that has resulted in this industrial action.


And wind your neck in taking about my profession, I care about patients, whoever they are, wherever they are from, even if their current predicament is self induced.

However being in a caring profession doesn't make me (A) A leftie or (B) A liberal.

Anybody that strikes in such a way is purely selfish and greedy, with no moral compass, they are well paid for what is a very easy job, in fact they are overpaid, to want triple pay and a day off in lieu when they signed up for what they have is both wasteful and spiteful.

Lets look in more detail, they are paid more than a Junior SHO in A/E, more than a Paramedic, more than Firebod, more than a Teacher, more than a very senior Nurse, actually more than a Nurse Practitioner, more than a Midwife.


I do like your last comment Stigy, as the tube drivers wren't forced into their profession so if they want to be paid triple time and a day off in lieu when Boxing Day falls on a Sunday then get Bank Holiday for the following Monday aswell then they should leave and find a job that pays that, seems fair to me as there are plenty of people that have lost their jobs in the recession that would be happy to do a job as easy as that for the thick end of £50k a year and 8 weeks holiday.

And yes I did attend 7/7, and remember well the tube drivers running the other way, there where reports fed back to me of tube drivers leaving their passengers to fend for themselves, but hey, they aren't in a caring profession so it is all good.

mynameisdave

ryantcb wrote: »

if I dont agree with the terms when I sign my contract that I have no right to complain, but if they change whilst im under contract then yes I do. And we are.

And how many new bank holidays have been added to the calendar since you started working for LU? I'm fairly sure there have been no permantly added BH in recent years (since 1971). You come up with some story about there only being 5 in 1996 when the agreement was signed. What 5? When were our extra BH's granted?

So unless you started pre 1996, and pre the contract has not been changed and in your own words have no right to complain.

Stigy

bigjl wrote: »

And yes I did attend 7/7, and remember well the tube drivers running the other way, there where reports fed back to me of tube drivers leaving their passengers to fend for themselves, but hey, they aren't in a caring profession so it is all good.

Well if you're applying that chest nut, what about Emergency Services that wouldn't go in for fear of secondary devices? I don't want to go too far off-topic here, but it seems you are suggesting that the tube train drivers should have stayed and helped in the carnage? In a way I can see your point, but you have to realise, and I'm sure you do really, that these drivers have probably never seen carnage such as this, and as such were probably bricking it. Nobody wants to die, but the emergency services join their jobs and are well aware that they stand a very good chance of seeing serious injury etc on a daily basis. Staff on the Underground don't go in to their jobs thinking they might witness a terror attack, regardless of the current state of alert.

bigjl wrote:

No the target was the members of the public on the transport syatem and the staff sent to help, or did you not read my posts fully

I personally switched off after you started the name calling.

bigjl wrote:

Lets look in more detail, they are paid more than a Junior SHO in A/E, more than a Paramedic, more than Firebod, more than a Teacher, more than a very senior Nurse, actually more than a Nurse Practitioner, more than a Midwife.

Given that most of those are NHS jobs, does that not ay something about the NHS?

bigjl wrote:

I do like your last comment Stigy, as the tube drivers wren't forced into their profession so if they want to be paid triple time and a day off in lieu when Boxing Day falls on a Sunday then get Bank Holiday for the following Monday aswell then they should leave and find a job that pays that, seems fair to me as there are plenty of people that have lost their jobs in the recession that would be happy to do a job as easy as that for the thick end of £50k a year and 8 weeks holiday.

You were comparing a job saving lives with that of a Tube Train Driver, and I was just suggesting that maybe you shouldn't as they're two very different roles.

Funny how all and sundry is under the impression that driving a tube train is an easy task, yet those very same people have probably never tried it. I've never driven a tube train, but am not so naive as to think it's as easy as the simple operation of a lever. If it was, do you think TOCs and (just for geordieracer, so I don't get accused of mistaking tube trains with mainline trains) TfL would pay over £35,000pa as a standard salery? Doesn't matter whether anybody deems it excessive, they ARE paid that much and wouldn't be if the job wasn't a responsible one!

alastairq

a job 'saving lives' is simply doing what they're paid for.

If that's the way people want to view other peoples' jobs?

anyway...8 weeks isn't such a big deal for holidays...I get 30 days leave, plus all bank holidays..even the Queen's birthday.....plus all the Xmas/New year period off.........on top of that, I can have 14 days sick in any 12 month period, no questions asked [if you have the right answers, that is]......and I'm in a Union...and I'm a public service worker.....uncivil servant, to be precise.......so I get paid out of public funds....just like the Prime Minister..oh....and a nurse!

Not paid as much as I would get 'outside'...but there are other aspects which make the lower pay scale more appealing.....

every time I have been out on strike in recent years.....my employer has 'backed down'.....

and it is most unlikely I will be made redundant..[as a civil servant]......

and long ago I realised it is absolutely no use trying to appeal to the public for support.......99.9% of them haven't actually got a clue about what I do for a living, what's entailed, of the skills I'm required to possess...so ......long ago, I came to the conclusion, the opinion of the public really doesn't matter a tinkers cuss.

So..I ignore the observations of Joe Public.