RMT vote 4 to 1 to strike over NR pay

[driver_m]

Perhaps my reading earlier today of the story of the Gresford pit disaster had still been at the back of my mind when I made that posting earlier, but nonetheless, to use that particular term is, as far as I am and always will be adamantly concerned, to be in very poor taste, especially when used by fellow Trade Unionists, who should have far more respect for those dead underground workers, and they should most certainly come up with another working trade term instead to describe the type of situation to which you so allude.

Sorry Paul but I agree with the other posters, you shouldn't be getting annoyed over a phrase like that mentioned. I can also add that my Uncle was badly disfigured in a pit accident and I certainly don't take offence at the phrase used (nor would he). Bad working conditions were endemic in many industries back then.

 

[68000]

Why is NR racking up such massive debts?

To pay for all the infrastructure improvements. the Government does not give the money just guarantees the debt which in effect makes it Government debt

 

[Hyphen]

Where have you got this from?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32748029

Network Rail workers are to stage a 24-hour strike from 5pm on bank holiday Monday in a row over pay.

The workers, including signallers and maintenance staff, will also ban overtime for 48 hours from 25 May.

The move follows a decisive vote for strikes from RMT union members.

The RMT said the latest pay proposals from Network Rail fell "well short" of what is required to maintain living standards and job security for nearly 16,000 staff.

The union has rejected a four-year deal worth £500 this year, followed by three years of increases matching inflation as well as a no compulsory redundancy commitment to December 2016.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Firstly the RMT are most likely going to wait until TSSA inform if they will also strike.

Was this the case then?

 

[carriageline]

Quite a clever time to strike, it will affect big projects, but also the peaks on Monday and Tuesday.

Question, if your booked on whilst at work, what happens when 5PM comes? Shut down and go home?

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

That is not good news, I am coming back from Brusels that day.

1. Will Eurostar be affected.

2. I will now have to find an alternative route home by tube, then by country buses who will operate a Sunday service that evening.

 

[DarloRich]

Was this the case then?

no as the TSSA ballot closes today

 

[33056]

Question, if your booked on whilst at work, what happens when 5PM comes? Shut down and go home?

What usually happens is that it applies to people booking on from 17:00; ie if you started at 14:00 then you would complete your shift but the person booking on at 22:00 (or 18:00) would be on strike. On the second day, nobody would book on until 17:00 or later so the worst affected day would actually be the Tuesday.

 

[infobleep]

When tubes and railways have been affected by strikes there is usually a running down of services in advance.

Hypothetically speaking, what would happen if their was no running down of services in advance of the strike itself. I. E. all staff were told to work until the strike hour started. In this case some staff, such as drivers, would be mid stations or away from their depot where they sign on or off.

Would they Park the train at the nearest station and get a taxi home without signing off.

Ita hypothetical because it's not happened as far as I'm aware.

 

[LAX54]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32748029

This will not go down well with a lot of staff let alone passengers ! so a 1 day strike will be what amounts to 2 days pay lost as its a bank holiday ! and a good move that we find out from the National Press that we are going on strike ! also the mandate for action short of a strike was bigger !

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

This will not go down well with a lot of staff let alone passengers ! so a 1 day strike will be what amounts to 2 days pay lost as its a bank holiday ! !

Glad to see that that particular point did not slip under your personal radar. Well done for being so astute.

Will double strike pay now be on the agenda of the union once they realise it is a Bank Holiday?

 

[pemma]

Would they Park the train at the nearest station and get a taxi home without signing off.

Very unlikely that trains would be abandoned at stations such as Stockport and Wigan North Western.

If a diagram contains
Station A to Station C via Station B
then
Station C to Station A via Station B
where Station A is the staff base and station B is a suitable point to turn a train around.

And it's possible to do the outbound working but not the return one I think the options will be:
1. Cancel both services.
2. Terminate the outbound service at Station B and run it back to Station A (possibly ECS.)
3. Run the first service, leave the unit at Station C and taxi the crew home.

 

[Clip]

Glad to see that that particular point did not slip under your personal radar. Well done for being so astute.

Will double strike pay now be on the agenda of the union once they realise it is a Bank Holiday?

No. Im pretty sure they know its a bank holiday as they know it will cause maximum disruption both to holiday makers and to the commuters on Tuesday morning which should, in theory, get NR back round the table and give their staff something decent.

I remember when they made the same offer back in 06 or something - we soon got a decent rise from them.

Whilst I do have issues with unions at time I am fully behind my NR colleagues on this one.

 

[LAX54]

Glad to see that that particular point did not slip under your personal radar. Well done for being so astute.

Will double strike pay now be on the agenda of the union once they realise it is a Bank Holiday?

So if anyone had agreed to work a free day on the 25th, that is a fair wedge they are losing on day 1 ! (IF it gets that far) also see its an O/T ban too, so a ROC or IECC could lose a really big sum,

What I do not quite follow, is that a majority wanted Action short of a Strike, so why not go for that first, and leave the strikes as the big guns for later if needed at all so we kick off with both ?

 

[Cletus]

The article has been extended
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32748029

Check out the picture in the article!

Network Rail workers are to stage a 24-hour strike from 5pm on bank holiday Monday in a row over pay.

The UK-wide action will see signallers, maintenance staff and station workers, walk out from 25 May on the busy holiday weekend.

It follows a decisive vote for action from RMT union members and will be the first UK-wide rail strike in 20 years.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin condemned the strike and said Network Rail had made a "fair offer".

"Rail passengers will not thank the unions for inflicting this unnecessary disruption," he added.

The RMT insists the main impact on passengers will be felt on Tuesday 26 May, but the action is expected to hit what is traditionally a busy Bank Holiday travel period for millions of rail users.

Network Rail has previously said it will do anything possible to keep services going if strikes go ahead.

The union said the latest pay proposals from Network Rail fell "well short" of what is required to maintain living standards and job security for nearly 16,000 staff.

Members have rejected a four-year deal worth £500 per worker this year, followed by three years of increases matching inflation as well as a no compulsory redundancy commitment to December 2016.

Network Rail runs and develops Britain's rail tracks as well as looking after signalling, bridges and tunnels. They also run stations in the UK, including 10 in London.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said Network Rail had left members "with no option but to move to a rolling programme of industrial action".
The union had a "massive mandate for action" from members angered at "attacks on their standards of living and their job security", he said.
Network Rail's proposals were "wholly inadequate" and failed to recognise the "massive pressures staff are working under to keep services running safely at a time when the company is generating profits of £1bn", he added.

The action is the first major industrial relations challenge for the new Conservative government, which is committed to tightening the rules on strike ballots - particularly covering essential public services.

 

[Sanatogen]

So if anyone had agreed to work a free day on the 25th, that is a fair wedge they are losing on day 1 ! (IF it gets that far) also see its an O/T ban too, so a ROC or IECC could lose a really big sum,



What I do not quite follow, is that a majority wanted Action short of a Strike, so why not go for that first, and leave the strikes as the big guns for later if needed at all so we kick off with both ?

As it would be a free day they are not actually losing anything.

 

[Clip]

So if anyone had agreed to work a free day on the 25th, that is a fair wedge they are losing on day 1 ! (IF it gets that far) also see its an O/T ban too, so a ROC or IECC could lose a really big sum,

?

For some and dare I say most - its the principle of the thing and more than happy to miss out on a bit of OT to get a better deal in the long run.

 

[LAX54]

As it would be a free day they are not actually losing anything.

If it was FDW they would !

 

[steverailer]

For some and dare I say most - its the principle of the thing and more than happy to miss out on a bit of OT to get a better deal in the long run.

What about the contractors to NWR who may now lose their bank holiday pay? This could have an effect on some of the engineering work that is planned for that weekend, alot of which may not finish until the early hours of Tuesday.

I have nothing against them striking for what they are, but seeing it from the 'coal face' alot of the maintainace lads are not on that bad a screw. They would be expected to do a hell of alot more for their money if they worked for contractors.

 

[Sanatogen]

If it was FDW they would !

They might not be earning extra but they aren't losing anything.

 

[LAX54]

If they plan it right, certain Engineering work can still go ahead, there would be no Ballast Trains or OTM's maybe, but some work can and will be done, take the possession before the box closes, and give it up when it opens.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

They might not be earning extra but they aren't losing anything.

I am sure quite a few will not see it that way ! A Bank Holiday is not the right day to choose, but then that is just my view, and I know a few others too. still at least we know we will alienate the public from day 1

 

[Sanatogen]

We will alienate the public anyway, threaten maximum disruption and hopefully force NR back to the table with a sensible offer.

 

[LAX54]

We will alienate the public anyway, threaten maximum disruption and hopefully force NR back to the table with a sensible offer.

In 94 we did have the public behind us......most of the way, it faded towards the end of course, but then RT and the RMT did not meet for weeks on end ! but I hope that this will get the RMT and NR back around the table, to resolve it is easy.. consolidate the £500, make it RPI +0.5% for 2 or 3 years, 4 if they like! and discuss redundancy, no Company can ever agree to no redundancies at all regardless of what we would like !

And I do think we would have upset not quite as many by avoiding a bank holiday, and of course staff would have loss less, if you were free day BH you would have got a days pay or L/L and if you worked it, could have been 1.5 or 2.5 times normal pay (L/L or no L/L options)

 

[steverailer]

If they plan it right, certain Engineering work can still go ahead, there would be no Ballast Trains or OTM's maybe, but some work can and will be done, take the possession before the box closes, and give it up when it opens.

Depends on the job, alot now have to have NWR supervision even though the work is carried out by contractors.

Add in that the new safe working system has just gone live in the east midlands, and can see alot being cancelled

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Just to lighten the current sombre mood that seems to be affecting this thread, it does indeed seem an apt time for the RMT to have a union leader with the surname of Cash...

 

[LAX54]

Depends on the job, alot now have to have NWR supervision even though the work is carried out by contractors.

Add in that the new safe working system has just gone live in the east midlands, and can see alot being cancelled

Without a doubt Engineering will be affected, but a lot will still go ahead I am sure, a lot of our possessions have non NR PICOPS, although some do now have ODM's from NR, but he is just a Manager located some many... many miles away, and could be out of the scope of this dispute
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Just to lighten the current sombre mood that seems to be affecting this thread, it does indeed seem an apt time for the RMT to have a union leader with the surname of Cash...

LOL ! and of course when he 'wins' it will be 'Cash on delivery'

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Whilst still in a jovial mood, why not let the RMT Male Voice Choir hold an impromptu concert outside a certain premises in The Quadrant, Elder Gate, Milton Keynes, to convey their feelings. May I suggest that at the end of the concert, the closing number must surely be the 1973 song by The Strawbs, with a rousing solo part by Mick Cash.."Part of the Union"

Placards featuring the happy face of "Red Robbo" will be de rigeur with the wording...."Look what I did for the British motor industry, you too, comrades, can do the same for the British rail industry...

 

[Bantamzen]

Oh boy. We are travelling on the 13:45 from Warrington C to Leeds and then onto Baildon on the Monday. We might just be lucky with the TPE section as hopefully that will still run, but any delays and it might be a long taxi ride home from Leeds. So I'm hoping for a better offer put on the table and a suspension of the action.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

What NR roles do TSSA staff have operationally? Assuming they vote for action will they have a significant additional impact to the RMT action?
In previous strikes of this sort, supervisors/managers have maintained some sort of service on a few lines (typically the ones with large ROC/PSB centres).
Old-style routes will inevitably close, but some level of staffing would see (say) Ashford and West Hampstead PSBs operational for limited traffic.
That would keep HS1 and the southern MML alive.
Same goes for the southern WCML (Wembley, Rugby, WMSC).

It's a good job that the main events in the 3 Queens parade in Liverpool will be over by 1700 on the 25th, but it will make it hard to get to the evening fireworks!

 

[Clip]

What about the contractors to NWR who may now lose their bank holiday pay? .

I know it sounds bad but they'll have to take that up with their contractors. When I first started working for Serco on PWay we were always told that BH was never a given right no matter what your shift was.

What NR roles do TSSA staff have operationally? Assuming they vote for action will they have a significant additional impact to the RMT action?
!

In the CS roles years ago a lot of our office based staff were in TSSA at a couple of stations and even some of my colleagues moved over to them whilst still working on the shop floor.