//Ok, we've decided to work normally today. Oh we've decided to start a new strike tommorow then.//
The legislation would be amended requiring a new ballot of members and notice given (as required at the moment) for the fresh strike.
//Surely it's the strikers who decide when they are going to strike?//
Yes they do, within the law (see above).
//Easiest of all would be to make all striking illegal. Would you favour that?//
Yes I would. Walk out whether an “official” strike or not - and you’re in breach of contract.
//What if the workers decided to disobey, and simply stayed at home? Would they be arrested?//
No they would be dismissed.
//Who would do their job?//
For every vacancy advertised for train drivers, operating companies receive at least twenty applications. There would be no shortage of people to take their place (on £60k a year). It would cause disruption as the new drivers would have to be trained. But most of them know what side’s their bread is buttered and know that getting a £60k job elsewhere would not be that easy.
In 1981 President Reagan fired more than 11,000 Air Traffic Controllers who had been in dispute with their employers and went on strike. That arguably had the potential to cause far more chaos than the rail strikes here. They have been ongoing for months and the world hasn’t fallen apart. The railway workers should realise that the rail network is nowhere near as vital as it was just a few years ago. Far fewer people need to travel by train (though many choose to) and trains are no longer needed to cart coal around to power stations. If they had a strong hand the dispute would have been settled by now. But they haven't and it isn’t. ASLEF needs to move on. There have been neither engineers nor firemen on the UK’s trains for more than 50 years.