Rail Strike 06-09 April

[Jonno]

The first national rail strike since 1994 is set for the rest of the working week after Easter Monday (though it may get called off beforehand). If it does go ahead, it could make my work very interesting indeed - for starters, I'm the only one of four in the office who doesn't commute by rail (tube instead) although the tube is bound to be more congested as a result. However, I might be the only one in the office all week!

And of course working in the rail freight industry, it's possible that we may have next to no trains running for our customers all week, which would be catastrophic to our revenue...

[Si Hunt]

I happen to be on holiday all that week!

Si.

[duncan]

And you can expect a new wave of tube strikes in the next few months as the unions are now in dispute with London Underground over the 800 job cuts that were anounced last week. My union informed me today to expect a ballot in the next couple of weeks as Boris refused to back down by 5pm yesterday.

[Darren]

I'm shocked that the Rail Millitant Transport Union haven't scheduled it for the Easter weekend.


Which is good as I'm thinking of going to Wales.

[Captain Tancredi]

I'm in a similar position to Jonno in that I don't normally commute by train, but the bus I catch starts back at Ilkley so tends to catch it if anything affects the Ilkley to Leeds train (and then again in the evening because more people drive). Comes across to me as one of those situations where there are two points of view and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

This isn't timed to happen just before a major election is it???

[Jonno]

The 6th April just happens to be the day that Gordon is supposedly going to announce the date of the election!

As for the exact timing of the strike they've been very clever. They're appealing to the good nature of the general public by saying they're not going to strike over the actual 4 day Easter holiday itself, but the fact is that with commuters twice as many actual train journeys are made on normal working days as Easter itself, hence Network Rail will be hit hard as they will have to compensate ATOC with customer refunds.

[Simon R]

We were thinking of having a day in Londonium on the Friday but I think we'll give it a miss now.

[Llordllama]

University unions are about to ballot members for strike action over job cuts, so anyone looking forward to getting a degree this year...might consider a career as a train driver!

[Anthony Williams]

University unions are about to ballot members for strike action over job cuts, so anyone looking forward to getting a degree this year...might consider a career as a train driver!

I've seen. I'll be mighty peeved if it has any impact on my MA

[Lissa]

It's a good plan by the unions - lots of strikes in the run up to an election, echoing 1979 and the demise of the last Labour government, and helping to usher in a Conservative government which won't be anywhere near as friendly as the outgoing bunch. Their timing is immaculate.

[Si Hunt]

Greed greed greed greed greed. Ooh, there's an election coming up, let's SEE WHAT WE CAN GET.

If you don't like your job, get another one. Otherwise get back to work.

Si.

[Alex]

It's very annoying for me, as April 6th is when the play opens, and it's difficult enough to get audiences in to a non-West End venue (though we're pretty close) without them having to worry about whether they can get home again afterwards.

The rail industry really annoys me, we're in a recession (or still suffering the after effects, at the very least) and yet whenever job cuts are suggested, everyone rushes off to strike. Modernisation often means that jobs are lost too, but that's just life, and if they're really unhappy they could always change jobs. It's what countless thousands of other people have had to do. But no, they know they can hold the country to ransom, and so do so.

[duncan]

It's very annoying for me, as April 6th is when the play opens, and it's difficult enough to get audiences in to a non-West End venue (though we're pretty close) without them having to worry about whether they can get home again afterwards.

The rail industry really annoys me, we're in a recession (or still suffering the after effects, at the very least) and yet whenever job cuts are suggested, everyone rushes off to strike. Modernisation often means that jobs are lost too, but that's just life, and if they're really unhappy they could always change jobs. It's what countless thousands of other people have had to do. But no, they know they can hold the country to ransom, and so do so.

Actually not all of us rush off to strike. In every ballot I have participated on the Tube I have voted no to a strike and on the day I have been true to my vote and I have turned up for work. I will be voting in the next ballot and my vote will be a no again.

Despite the fact that London Underground have announced that 800 positions are to be lost, they have guaranteed that there will be no compulsory redundancies. Anyone that wants to leave can take voluntary severence and walk out with a damn good pay off. Those that dont will be found alternative work if they are one of the positions being axed.

There is a perception within the public that all of us railway workers want to strike at any possibility. But, when you look at the figures, when the RMT states that 60% have voted in favour of strike that is only 60%of those that actually voted. If there are 10,000 members of the union and only 2000 bother to vote, with 60% in favour that's only 1,200 voting yes out of 10,000 members. I personally feel that by not voting you are registering a "no" and the strike should not go ahead.

[Alex]

That is fair enough, and I always have the upmost respect for those who do turn up on strike days.

But out of interest how easy is it to vote in such matters? And do they ever mention how many people tend to vote?

[duncan]

As a member of the Transport Salaried Staff Assiociation or TSSA (pronounced Tessa) for short, I will automatically be sent ballot papers through the post with a deadline date for retuning my papers. It's then up to me if I vote or not. I always vote as by not doing so is just a waste to be honest.

As for the numbers, yes, members are nornally notified just how many papers were returned and what the percentage of votes works out to be. It always happens, as each ballot comes around, more members do not vote than those who do so how can a strike be truely justified if the majority of the unions members fail to vote yes?

[Paul Monk]

It's interesting to hear about how the process works, Duncan. Like a lot of things (running the country included) its decided by a minority.
What does annoy me though is that for a lot of people striking would do nothing or go unnoticed. The rail unions know that they can effectively hold the country to ransome in order to try to get what they want which is annoying.

[duncan]

And it certainly does them no favours when they do what they did four years ago.

The RMT called their members from London underground out on strike on the same day that England were due to play an important match in the World Cup.

[Paul Monk]

And it certainly does them no favours when they do what they did four years ago

Exactly. Unlike say when the Fire Service went on strike, when there was a lot of public sympathy, rail strikes do nothing to get the general public on their side. But then I guess they don't need to.

[MinaHarker]

I might miss my training course

[Darren]

No you won't. The High Court have granted an injunction and stopped the strike.