Crosswords1 min ago
Train drivers' strike
Any strong opinions out there ? I would ask the following question : " Do Nurses, Policemen, Firemen, Ambulancemen, Armed Forces, (and everybody else who works on Boxing Day ) get TREBLE time and a day off in lieu for working Boxing Day - NOOOOOOO ! Are the train drivers just being greedy - I think so. No doubt I have opened a can of worms here, but nevermind - it's Christmas !!
FBG40
FBG40
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haven't used a train for at least 18 years - Bothered
haven't needed an Ambulance in 56 years - normally take myself there.
haven't needed a Fire engine in 56 years - never burnt a turkey yet.
Merry crimbo to those that have to work over Christmas to patch up those drunken revellers that should know better!
haven't needed an Ambulance in 56 years - normally take myself there.
haven't needed a Fire engine in 56 years - never burnt a turkey yet.
Merry crimbo to those that have to work over Christmas to patch up those drunken revellers that should know better!
Hi Old wos is name
I worked most Christmases during my 25 years with the Fire Brigade, never did anybody have the "whole" Christnas off. We were paid time and a half and a day in lieu. To ask for treble time and a day off is greed and nothing more. I do believe they earn on average £48,000 p.a. Not bad eh ?
FBG40
I worked most Christmases during my 25 years with the Fire Brigade, never did anybody have the "whole" Christnas off. We were paid time and a half and a day in lieu. To ask for treble time and a day off is greed and nothing more. I do believe they earn on average £48,000 p.a. Not bad eh ?
FBG40
In business you use whatever means are at your disposal to get the best deal you can.
You don't think Supermarkets or petrol companies spend their time trying to get you the lowest prices do you?
They do whatever they can to maximise the returns for their shareholders
The "shareholders" of the train drivers union are its members and they will do whatever they can to maximise the return for them.
You seem to be under the impression that they are some sort of charity workers trying to make your life as easy as possible.
In some cases strikes work - if the public service Unions had accepted the first pension deal the government offered they wouldn't have won extra concessions
If you wrote off a car you wouldn't accept the first offer the insurance company made you would you?
But I don't suppose you'd class *that* as being greedy would you?
You don't think Supermarkets or petrol companies spend their time trying to get you the lowest prices do you?
They do whatever they can to maximise the returns for their shareholders
The "shareholders" of the train drivers union are its members and they will do whatever they can to maximise the return for them.
You seem to be under the impression that they are some sort of charity workers trying to make your life as easy as possible.
In some cases strikes work - if the public service Unions had accepted the first pension deal the government offered they wouldn't have won extra concessions
If you wrote off a car you wouldn't accept the first offer the insurance company made you would you?
But I don't suppose you'd class *that* as being greedy would you?
The people involved here are drivers on the London Underground.
Just recently they “negotiated” a pay deal which will take their pay in two years time to over £50,000 p.a. They have also “negotiated” a deal which will see them each receive around £1,000 for working “normally” during the Olympics. There has been no negotiation in these matters. Led by the indomitable Bob Crow they have held their employers to ransom threatening to strike when they know they run a service which many of its customers have no choice but to use.
LU Management says that their pay (especially the latest settlement) includes a premium for working on Bank Holidays. My view is that these people, via their unions, are simply using extortion to screw as much money as possible from their employers and their demands are unreasonable. Fares in London are set to rise by about 7%, much of the increase needed to cover these ridiculous salary levels.
Their demands have not been met on this occasion and many Londoners (including those who are paid far less but who also have to work on Boxing Day) will be hugely inconvenienced.
Just recently they “negotiated” a pay deal which will take their pay in two years time to over £50,000 p.a. They have also “negotiated” a deal which will see them each receive around £1,000 for working “normally” during the Olympics. There has been no negotiation in these matters. Led by the indomitable Bob Crow they have held their employers to ransom threatening to strike when they know they run a service which many of its customers have no choice but to use.
LU Management says that their pay (especially the latest settlement) includes a premium for working on Bank Holidays. My view is that these people, via their unions, are simply using extortion to screw as much money as possible from their employers and their demands are unreasonable. Fares in London are set to rise by about 7%, much of the increase needed to cover these ridiculous salary levels.
Their demands have not been met on this occasion and many Londoners (including those who are paid far less but who also have to work on Boxing Day) will be hugely inconvenienced.
I take it, NJ, that your placement of inverted commas around the word negotiated (twice) is the standard literary device whereby one tries to indicate that the word is not supposed to be taken literally. If they didn't negotiate - without the inverted commas - these deals, how DID they come by them? You yourself call what they have a settlement... or was that meant to be in inverted commas, too?...which surely IS by definition, a negotiated deal. Ransom, extortion and screw just multiply the error.
Well done, Bob Crow! As far as Britain's work-force is concerned, it's a crying shame there aren't more like you!
Well done, Bob Crow! As far as Britain's work-force is concerned, it's a crying shame there aren't more like you!
Yes, QM, settlement should also have been in inverted commas. Thanks for pointing that out.
The advantage that Bob Crow has is that he knows his members provide a service for which, for many people, there is no alternative. The deal he has negotiated (I won’t keep on using inverted commas) has been made under duress. London Underground knows that it cannot afford widespread disruption to their services at any time and this is particularly so in the coming months in the run up to the Olympics. Mercifully few union leaders are in this position for if there were more the UK would rapidly return to the mess it was in back in the 1970s.
Crow needs no congratulations. The cost of the inflation busting deal his members will now enjoy will rest firmly at the door of many thousands of lower paid workers for whom £50k is beyond their wildest dreams. Many of them have had little or no pay increases in the past couple of years yet they have to fork out 7% extra next month to pay Crow’s members their ridiculous wages. I know that Crow has no brief to consider them but sooner or later something will give and he may find that LU finds a way to reduce its costs and that may well be at the expense of his members.
The advantage that Bob Crow has is that he knows his members provide a service for which, for many people, there is no alternative. The deal he has negotiated (I won’t keep on using inverted commas) has been made under duress. London Underground knows that it cannot afford widespread disruption to their services at any time and this is particularly so in the coming months in the run up to the Olympics. Mercifully few union leaders are in this position for if there were more the UK would rapidly return to the mess it was in back in the 1970s.
Crow needs no congratulations. The cost of the inflation busting deal his members will now enjoy will rest firmly at the door of many thousands of lower paid workers for whom £50k is beyond their wildest dreams. Many of them have had little or no pay increases in the past couple of years yet they have to fork out 7% extra next month to pay Crow’s members their ridiculous wages. I know that Crow has no brief to consider them but sooner or later something will give and he may find that LU finds a way to reduce its costs and that may well be at the expense of his members.
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After the olympics is finished half of them will probably be made redundant, and the other half forced to take a wage cut back to the level they had before this deal.
Nothing wrong with it, just the employer getting the best deal they can given the economic climate, and the relative bargaining positions of the parties concerned.
Nothing wrong with it, just the employer getting the best deal they can given the economic climate, and the relative bargaining positions of the parties concerned.
