I just got a Christmas bonus from my TOC. I've never had one before, so that makes another thing the "Goverment" has given me that I never got when just being under a TOC.
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dailymail - One in five train services could be axed as treasury tightens purse strings
- Thread starter Nicholas Lewis
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I just got a Christmas bonus from my TOC. I've never had one before, so that makes another thing the "Goverment" has given me that I never got when just being under a TOC.
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dk1
Veteran Member
ALP coming in January too.
Mcr Warrior
Veteran Member
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What's that?
dk1
Veteran Member
Annual Leave Premium. It's something that went away at the end of BR but made a welcome come back around 3 years ago. Can be quite lucrative if you do regular overtime.What's that?
Bonuses aren't always a good thing, sometimes employers give bonuses instead of a pay rise as it only has to be paid once. Therefore, it's safer for the employer if to they are uncertain what may happen next year but they still want to reward employees.
There's been two occasions where I've had a Christmas bonus and then the following day the employer has reduced the head count.
There was a legal ruling on whether overtime counts towards what you get for statutory holiday pay and the courts decided in some cases it does. The people most likely to be affected are those who are contracted to work less than 5 days a week and who regularly work rest days. The reason for that is statutory annual leave (of 28 days including BHs) is based on working 5 days a week, it doesn't increase if you work 5.5 or 6 days a week but does decrease pro-rata if you work less than 5 days a week.
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dk1
Veteran Member
Total overtime worked divided by 313, multiplied by 6, divided by 5, then multiplied by 20. Simples!!
We never work more than a 4 day week & personally done loads of extra in the last few months to help out with training. Shame there's nowhere to go or nothing to spend it on right now.
irish_rail
On Moderation
So if government hold the purse strings now why has your TOC been allowed to give you a bonus and mine decided not to?
Personally I have no desire for bonuses or pay rises this year or next, but seems strange the government will reward you and not me!
Andrew1395
Member
I think currently the average weekday earnings is three to four times Sundays and double Saturdays. I am sure the Treasury will look at that, and consider what the operational priority is as well as how the industry can raise income. So coherent plans to do so will be welcome. But we are not in normal times. And each month that passes makes strategies of the past more difficult to plan and predict the future.
The argument on service patterns and provision will be based on how quickly normal travel demand will return. In the meantime weekends are not the best bet for the governments £. Fair play to TOC marketing teams thinking about Q3/4 of 2021. It might even save them from the cutbacks to be announced before the end of the current financial year.
I think the problem with the Leisure market is that it depends on the sector being operational. Central London is the biggest leisure market for rail. So the quicker London moves out of tier four and into tier 1 the better.
With such uncertainty, how many venues will survive and how many events will actually take place this year? I am sure when normality returns there will be a release of pent up demand, a bit like 1946 after the war. But in the meantime...
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Northern gave vouchers to staff at Christmas for several years but not this one
Anonymous10
Established Member
imo many more trains lost public transport will be stuffed we talk about climate change keep the stuff going and maintained if all you can do is peak for a few years so be it but it needs to be kept as is and grown
HSTEd
Veteran Member
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Ultimately this is the perfect time for a major modernisation programme.
We are already blowing many billions extra every year, so spending them to rationalise things would be better than frittering it away trying to deny reality.
And with the railway so lightly loaded, I can't think of a better time to take on the unions over said rationalisation.
(Universal DOO, closing most of the signal centres, closing most ticket offices, rationalising rolling stock, rationalising timetables etc etc etc etc)
We are already blowing many billions extra every year, so spending them to rationalise things would be better than frittering it away trying to deny reality.
And with the railway so lightly loaded, I can't think of a better time to take on the unions over said rationalisation.
(Universal DOO, closing most of the signal centres, closing most ticket offices, rationalising rolling stock, rationalising timetables etc etc etc etc)
Anonymous10
Established Member
unfortunately ratalisation as you say hits rural areas hard i live in a town 2 hours from a city if you dont drive your only way to any city is train we lose the train service we are as good as cut off for convenient and accessible travel
dk1
Veteran Member
Blah blah blah
CBlue
Member
And yet it may well be possible.Blah blah blah
I was handed redundancy earlier this year after my employer lost several major contracts thanks to COVID. Five years in the role, lead trainer and had three years more experience than the next longest serving member of staff, along with critical process knowledge that no-one had ever bothered to write down.
Didn't stop them handing me the redundancy notice when others were cheaper to employ, and if I was in their shoes I'd have made the same decision.
I fail to see how similar things cannot happen to the railway industry given the operating losses are likely to continue for quite some time?
cactustwirly
Established Member
SWR and LNR are easy targets for DOO, as well as the West Yorkshire electrics
Universal DOO is pointless and difficult to achieve. It was always best targeted to locations where it gains you most benefit even if you happened to agree with it. The way various discussions appear to be going suggests little chance of it happening anytime soon. Certainly my TOC is currently working out long term plans for guards involving a degree of modernisation perhaps but certainly not DOO. I think the West Midlands is a potential battle ground. Nationally in general you can argue for or against it but I don't think it is a priority.
Signal boxes are the same. There isn't any opposition to shutting signal boxes. They're being done as and when they make economical or operational sense on a rolling programme. The unions aren't objecting to signalbox closures. Network Rail itself has announced a rethink of the Rail Operations Centre programme because the benefits are not as clear cut as had been assumed and there are definite drawbacks.
Ticket offices I think are probably in the firing line. If you have a sensible fare system it becomes hard to argue the need for them to exist anymore. Our first Smart Kiosks that can do reservations etc are being rolled out next month.
The rest of it depends on how well things bounce back. Our signs over summer were good - many of our trains were very busy.
I think this thread has run its course.
If there are any further updates anyone wishes to post in this thread, please report this post with a draft of what you wish to post and we will consider the request.
As always, any suggestions/suggestions belong in the Speculative Ideas section.
There is a thread in that section to discuss If 20% of train services are to be cut due to the change in usage patterns, what would you cut? (I'd say @HSTEd's proposals would be a whole new thread in its own right, though any such thread would need to be amicable and I'd question the merits of discussing the topic in question as it's been done to death already on numerous previous occasions)
Working from home has also been discussed in this thread, but there are numerous threads to discuss that, for example:
If there are any further updates anyone wishes to post in this thread, please report this post with a draft of what you wish to post and we will consider the request.
As always, any suggestions/suggestions belong in the Speculative Ideas section.
There is a thread in that section to discuss If 20% of train services are to be cut due to the change in usage patterns, what would you cut? (I'd say @HSTEd's proposals would be a whole new thread in its own right, though any such thread would need to be amicable and I'd question the merits of discussing the topic in question as it's been done to death already on numerous previous occasions)
Working from home has also been discussed in this thread, but there are numerous threads to discuss that, for example:
- Working from home- pros and cons
- Covid-19 to have a permanent downward effect on commuting patterns with more partial working from home?
- Coronavirus and working from home
- How will railway timetables reflect a decrease in demand from commuters due to companies becoming flexible towards employees working from home?
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