I'm not entirely sure, Dave1987, that focussing your attention on the personal views of one individual is going to further the subject of debate of this thread.You did not answer the question. Do you believe railway staff are overpaid?
As a practical matter, railway staff are - like everyone else in employment - paid an amount which the competitive labour market has determined to be appropriate. Unless there's suddenly a shortage of people who want jobs on the railway, I doubt that's likely to change anytime soon. What will always change over time, however, is the particular value that is put on the range of skills and duties which have historically been within certain roles. If the railway can use new technology to do a job that previously needed a human to perform, then of course that's what they are going to do. Inevitably, that means that the skills/role which were previously needed to perform the duties now carried out by technology are valued at a lower level than was previously the case, or maybe even no longer required at all.
Change is hard, I understand that as I'm sure everyone else here also does. But modern, rapidly developing technology means that the pace of change is greater now than perhaps it has ever been. The days of a job for life are long gone. Indeed, I would suggest that the days when you could expect to stay in one role for more than five or ten years have probably now also passed; albeit with certain exceptions (eg. doctors).
Realistically, you, I, and everyone else must know that the days of guards - as the role has been in the past - on the railway are numbered, and have been for a long time. Advancing technology and automation, along with a need to keep down costs, has seen to that. I've been through a process of my job being revalued when I worked in education, as I'm sure have many others in other industries, and going through it is horrid, of course it is. But change is part of life. Live with it, embrace the new challenges that it brings, and you might even find that it's a good thing.
The issues, as I see them, which are up for discussion are:
1. Is the technology which is proposed to replace guards up to the task? and
2. What should happen to those people currently employed as guards who, at some point, may no longer be required?
I don't know enough to comment properly on point 1; however, as I've said before, the only evidence based research I've seen this far is clear that the technology is safe if it is used correctly (by both passengers and staff).
On point 2, though, Arriva have offered to ensure no compulsory redundancies and continued pay increases until the end of the current franchise - which is as long as they are legally able to make that offer for. I'm not sure that there's really any scope for Arriva to make any better offer than that, unless the RMT were to ask for some kind of financial settlement for guards who were going to have a change of role.
Speaking entirely personally now, I find it very difficult to understand what the RMT are hoping to get from striking. They know that the role of guard as it has been in the past will disappear at some point, whether it's now or in 5, or 10, years time. Given that the other option open to Arriva is, ultimately, to make all guards redundant and offer to re-employ them on new contracts, contracts which I'm sure would be lower paid that what they are on now, I would have thought that the least-worst option would be to take what's already on the table.
I've been (in fact still am, technically) a union rep, and even I can't bring myself to support the action the RMT are taking on this. How can I support something which, to me, seems like it's motivated by a desire to avoid change and modernisation, when they should be embracing it and making the most of the opportunities it has to offer? How can I support something which is pretty transparently politically motivated? How can I support something which even my limited understanding of history tells me is bad tactics, and completely doomed to fail?
Change is hard, but it happens. You can either make the most of it, or let it make mincemeat out of you.