What is up with all these strikes in London

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I totally agree with the strikers, all you right wingers criticising them as selfish are just hypocrites, this is how your precious market works, supply and demand, you demand transport they supply it at the rate they feel is fair, love how you only like the free market when it suits you :wink:

Exactly, if we don't pay high enough salaries then whats to stop the drivers from simply going elsewhere, to Switzerland etc?

We need to pay the top salaries to attract the top talent into the industry.

Reply 41

SillyEddy

A lot of the strikes seem to be just cashing in for more money. The government really can't say "no" because if they do follow the strikes through, the Olympics will be ruined (maybe they should've saved some money to one side for such ocassions instead of giving it all to the highest bidder).

Although, I think some of the concerns are idiotic. Tube drivers are getting another £500 or so from what I hear - Seriously?! They're on between £40k-£65k and want more money for their job? I really can't understand why they're getting paid that much (plenty of people would do it just as well for half the wage no doubt) but the cheek to ask for more money? They go home to their families, yet the armed forces are going to be sleeping in giant tents. They deserve the extra cash if anyone.

On the other hand, I can totally agree with the workers who are abandoning the Olympic venue because their accomodation is so poor - It's portable buildings with leaky roofs and dozens of people to a single toilet. That just sucks.

Reply 42

rmpr97

Original post by SillyEddy

I honestly don't get how pulling/pushing a stick and occasionally mumbling something other the tannoy warrants 60k.

Reply 43

warp2125

I have to agree that Bob Crow is a sickening examples of how fat and bloated unions have become. The idea of the union was to stop workers being exploited, not to cause mass misery.

Classic example of the union life :

Reply 44

DarkWhite

The Olympics won't be "ruined" by any strikes; given the period of notice they carry these days, public sector departments and private sector organisations have plenty of time to pull in staff from elsewhere; effectively making a lot of striking useless.

Besides, what's the point of a strike if you don't intend to cause disruption? No point bank workers striking on a Sunday when nobody's using their services.

It's our right to strike when our hard-earned wages, rights and pensions are being squandered. We should all be in this together, but we all know we're not, and these austerity measures are too harsh in the wrong places.

If you really don't like strikes then I guess you should be grateful we haven't had wildcat strikes.

Reply 45

SillyEddy

Original post by rmpr97

I honestly don't get how pulling/pushing a stick and occasionally mumbling something other the tannoy warrants 60k.

Yeah, I don't see it either. I suppose the money is in place to keep people focused on their job - But from my experience, a lot of them seem quite mindless.

The private sector, such as the other train lines (Virgin, Arriva Trains, etc) are making around £25k-£45k as drivers. It's more understandable and forgiveable as it's the company who runs it... But the tubes are paid by us. Those other roles probably have more to do too - You have to be able to perform more operations with the regular trains.

It just doesn't make sense. Sure, they agreed to those working conditions (so they'll be annoyed if someone tries to change it) but why were the wages set so high to begin with? For their £500 increase I'd work full-time during the Olympics as an underground driver!!

Reply 46

bkeevin

Original post by SillyEddy

The tube workers' average salary is about £43K. The average price of a home in London is about £350K which is about 8times their salaries. The tube drivers got olympic bonuses of about £700-800. That is because they are expected to change their work patterns, work longer/later shifts, carry more passengers and they cannot go on holidays with their families during this summer holidays while they used to be able to. TFL is compensating them for altering their agreed terms.

If you will accept £500 to work fulltime, I am sure I can finds millions of people in Africa or Asia who will do it for £100. So why should the taxpayer give you be such high wages(even minimum wage or £500) when we can have people work for nothing(work experience) or for £100?

Reply 47

bkeevin

Original post by Donald Duck

Surely this is collusion in it's purest form (and nope, most people here are strongly against collusion).

Striking for pay with a trade union is one thing (which I generally agree with). Striking for protection from being fired and being unable to hire other people when regular workers strike is something strongly anti- free market.

If people are against collusion, then trade unions should simply be made illegal. They exist for that very reason ie to collide and defend the interests of their members(the worker). How can you say they are against hiring when hiring additional workers will likely increase their membership? But they certain are against you firing their members!

So did you agree with the strikes when the London bus drivers had a strike for pay(olympic bonus) or when the tube drivers also strike for better pay?

Reply 48

Studentus-anonymous

Original post by bahjat93

I think everyone who goes on strike should get the sack!
Specially since Olympics are so close

Why do you care how well the Olympics go?

Last I checked it was essentially a three week corporate spectacle where large sponsors monopolise by enforcing edicts and psuedo-laws on the host city.

You work for McDonalds or something?

Fair enough if you disagree with union actions, but the Olympics aren't London's friend either.

As for Cameron's 5% pay-cut scheme, that's pretty cute considering 5% and pay-freeze doesn't really compare to getting laid off.

Edit: Negged by a corporate sponsor of member of the IOC, maybe an athlete.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 49

meenu89

Thank God Mrs. Thatcher did what she did in terms of Union laws. Although I think we need a 50% rule.

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my Nexus 7

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 50

WelshBluebird

The main issue is that in a lot of these cases, people are being asked to do more work for the same amount of money. If your job suddenly becomes say twice as demanding, most people would expect some kind of compensation for that (be it a pay rise, a bonus, more time off etc etc).

However I do have a problem with the strikes as they seem to be doing it without thinking of the consequences.

Saying that, I fully support the more recent suggestions of them not striking, but instead working to rule. The way many of these companies / organisations (any normal rail company and London Underground) manage to survive is that they rely on people doing work they are not paid for. Be that unpaid overtime, doing a few extra things here and there, etc etc. If there is an issue with the conditions of work, then I fail to see the problem of someone decided actually, no, they won't do all the extra things and that they will just do what their job actually should involve as per their job description and contract.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 51

WelshBluebird

Original post by SillyEddy

It's more understandable and forgiveable as it's the company who runs it... But the tubes are paid by us.

Actually I am pretty sure that is not true.
While London Underground is largely owned by TfL (a public body), much of the funding for it comes from fares.
Whereas for the national rail network, the percentage of funding that comes from fares is lower.
Hence the percentage of public funding is much higher for national rail lines than london underground lines.

Reply 52

Herr

Original post by MagicNMedicine

You can keep your crappy bus drivers who go on strike all the time :smile:

We have plenty of good ones thanks :biggrin:

Reply 53

Snagprophet

Urgh. So you drive a tube train? You aren't special.

Reply 54

bkeevin

Original post by Snagprophet

Urgh. So you drive a tube train? You aren't special.

So you are a banker/director/boss? You are very special. You deserve an annual 50% payrise regardless of whether your organisation is making less profit, firing staff or share price is down!!! :rolleyes:

Reply 55

cl_steele

Have these people never heard of dialogue? instead they feel the need to take it out on the rest of the people traveling in London...

Reply 56

bahjat93

Original post by Studentus-anonymous

I care about the Olympics because the UK will be represented, these strikes will give our country a very bad image.
I don't work for MacDonalds dude and without the big corporations sponsoring the olympics WE the tax payers would have had to chip in even more!

Reply 57

MagicNMedicine

Original post by Herr

You can keep your crappy bus drivers who go on strike all the time :smile:

We have plenty of good ones thanks :biggrin:

What about our crappy bankers that preside over large scale losses, does Switzerland have plenty of unfilled vacancies for them when they go over there in protest against the extortionate tax in the UK?

Reply 58

bkeevin

Original post by cl_steele

Have these people never heard of dialogue? instead they feel the need to take it out on the rest of the people traveling in London...

But how long should the dialogue last? For many of these you hear they tried to dialogue for 9-18 months with no results or response from management. I actually think it is better to decide once and for all either to allow or ban trade union activism and strikes. It is very disingenious from many people of the right to give workers the legal right to withdraw their labour and always castigate them when they exercise that right. The workers have no choice other than disrupting us when management won't listen.

Reply 59

original_username

It's what happens when a corporation takes it's people for granted.

Fair play to them.

I'm fed up of hearing "The only victims are us, the public". It shows what an important service the people striking are providing, and that they shouldn't be taken for granted.

Sadly we are part of a culture now where you should be happy to just be in employment and should just lay down and take any **** your employer throws your way.