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RMT to fight the cuts

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Journeyman

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The difficulty is it’s quite reasonable to construct a case which says “why should my pay be frozen when I worked right through without missing a day - risking my health in the process?”.

Same applies to the likes of supermarket staff, NHS etc.

Having said all that, if I were RMT I’d be focussing on non-pay.
I admit it's a sore point for me. Because I work on a freelance/consultancy basis via a limited company, I've been royally shafted over the last year, and it clouds my logic and sympathy somewhat.
 
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winks

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Interesting. Which department is that if you don't mind me asking? Sounds like a buyout of unmodernised terms. I'm getting a straight zero rise...
This was HMRC it was standardisation of t&cs and the staff wanted it too as it allowed more flexible working.

 

Wolfie

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This was HMRC it was standardisation of t&cs and the staff wanted it too as it allowed more flexible working.

TY. Most departments seem happy to let the discrepancies continue. I happen to know from friends that for at least some folk on residual terms Home Office has blocked any pay rises for several years.
 

AntoniC

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Interesting. Which department is that if you don't mind me asking? Sounds like a buyout of unmodernised terms. I'm getting a straight zero rise...
It`s HMRC (everyone favourite`s department !:D
There was a need for reform as anyone who started working after 2005 had a far worse & restrictive contract than I did ( I joined in 1988).
They did a survey and realised that they did have enough staff who were obliged to answer the phones after 3pm and so could not provide effective customer service and I was very much in the minority with my contract.
So my Union (PCS) negotiated with management and a business case was put to the Treasury to ask if we could be offered a revised package of T&C`s and the Treasury said yes.
My revised T&C`s mean that
1) I can`t start work on Flexi before 07:45 (used to be 07:00) and if rostered to start at 07:45 or work until 17:00 I have to be there (unless I can swop with a colleague)
2) I have to work until 17:00 one night a week and work 6 Saturday`s a year (if there is a business demand)
3) I lost 1 1/2 days Privilege Leave a year ( 1 day at Christmas and 1/2 day Maundy Thursday ) these were extra holiday`s given to Civil Servants
4) I gained a 7% consolidated pay rise (paid over 2 years) and 6% in 3 non consolidated lump sums - which is a bonus to me as I am hoping to partially retire when I am 60 ( in 5 years time) and this will boost my pension !.

The PCS vote for this was 80% yes 20% no, (I voted YES) most probably because
1) Management encouraged everyone to join the Union so they could vote , because of collective bargaining https://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace-guidance/organising-and-bargaining/collective-bargaining
and those who had joined after 2005 realised that this was the best way to get rid of their old contract and get themselves a payrise !.
 

Aictos

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McDonald's staff won't be getting a pay rise either. It's literally everybody. So no, that won't happen.
Umm maybe not from McDs themselves but they would IF the National Minimum Wage increases as that is set by the Government not McDs.

As it is, I don't see why parts of the railway industry should get a pay rise considering all the benefits they already get when you get those who are contracted to provide a service who are on minimum wage and who don't get any extra benefits despite doing a role just as vital as the others.

If anything, those jobs on zero hour contracts or minimum wage who work on behalf of the railway should be on the same pay rate as someone doing the same job for a train operator and better travel facilities even if just for the train operator they work on behalf of.

I'm not saying other job roles are not as important but there are job roles which should be levelled up for example let's take Leeds for example I don't think it would be right for a train cleaner employed by Interserve to be on minimum wage and no staff benefits eg travel and a train cleaner employed by a train operator doing the exact same job but with better wages, better staff facilities eg travel.

It's not a case of bitter grapes either it's just applying the current Govt policy of levelling up red wall seats to the railway industry.
 

Robertj21a

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The RMT don’t seem to be the cleverest bunch!
Industrial Action will achieve nothing in the current climate, in fact, Industrial Action will probably benefit the TOCs and the DfT. With passenger numbers so low they’re saving money!
They’ve got disputes ongoing with ScotRail and the Caledonian Sleeper but the RMT seem surprised that no one wants to talk and resolve the dispute.
Secondly, in a time when we need passengers to return, striking is not going to entice them back.

We should consider ourselves to be very lucky. We’ve had short shifts, paid to sit at home on full pay and we’ve had no redundancies to date.
I fail to understand the need for a payrise right now. What would we be looking at, 2% perhaps. Take away tax and NIC and it’s not going to make a considerable difference to our quality of life.

Lets get this pandemic out of the way, get the passengers back on our trains, rebuild our industry and then seek the payrise. We all in the same boat with many other industries. The fact the RMT think we are something special having worked through the pandemic is quite frankly embarrassing.
Excellent post, sensible and pragmatic.
 
Joined
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After working every day through the pandemic, after being lauded by management for being key workers, sacrificing weekends, giving up annual leave to cover shifts, working unsociable hours having to accept new rosters that are awful and leave you worse off each month.
I’m sorry...but F this we deserve to have a pay rise.
And if you don’t work in the industry then as far as I’m concerned your views are fairly irrelevant.
 

Wolfie

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It`s HMRC (everyone favourite`s department !:D
There was a need for reform as anyone who started working after 2005 had a far worse & restrictive contract than I did ( I joined in 1988).
They did a survey and realised that they did have enough staff who were obliged to answer the phones after 3pm and so could not provide effective customer service and I was very much in the minority with my contract.
So my Union (PCS) negotiated with management and a business case was put to the Treasury to ask if we could be offered a revised package of T&C`s and the Treasury said yes.
My revised T&C`s mean that
1) I can`t start work on Flexi before 07:45 (used to be 07:00) and if rostered to start at 07:45 or work until 17:00 I have to be there (unless I can swop with a colleague)
2) I have to work until 17:00 one night a week and work 6 Saturday`s a year (if there is a business demand)
3) I lost 1 1/2 days Privilege Leave a year ( 1 day at Christmas and 1/2 day Maundy Thursday ) these were extra holiday`s given to Civil Servants
4) I gained a 7% consolidated pay rise (paid over 2 years) and 6% in 3 non consolidated lump sums - which is a bonus to me as I am hoping to partially retire when I am 60 ( in 5 years time) and this will boost my pension !.

The PCS vote for this was 80% yes 20% no, (I voted YES) most probably because
1) Management encouraged everyone to join the Union so they could vote , because of collective bargaining https://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace-guidance/organising-and-bargaining/collective-bargaining
and those who had joined after 2005 realised that this was the best way to get rid of their old contract and get themselves a payrise !.
TY. I am a CS myself (Prospect member) and got screwed by being put on "modernised" T&Cs when l transferred Dept a couple of years ago. I have to say that all sounds eminently sensible. Seeing a win-win makes a nice change - I bet that HMT accepted it as it ultimately ends up being pretty much cost-neutral.
 

Robertj21a

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After working every day through the pandemic, after being lauded by management for being key workers, sacrificing weekends, giving up annual leave to cover shifts, working unsociable hours having to accept new rosters that are awful and leave you worse off each month.
I’m sorry...but F this we deserve to have a pay rise.
And if you don’t work in the industry then as far as I’m concerned your views are fairly irrelevant.
Do you feel that you are badly paid already ?
 

Wolfie

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After working every day through the pandemic, after being lauded by management for being key workers, sacrificing weekends, giving up annual leave to cover shifts, working unsociable hours having to accept new rosters that are awful and leave you worse off each month.
I’m sorry...but F this we deserve to have a pay rise.
And if you don’t work in the industry then as far as I’m concerned your views are fairly irrelevant.
Re your last para, whatever you think you do not have a right to demand ever more from the taxpayer and frankly are about to get a bloody big shock if you think either that will happen or that you will get much/any support should you try action.

I am sadly sure though that BoZo would love an opportunity to break the rail TUs. Industrial action now, when the economy is shot and demand is down, plays right into his hands. Expect significant compulsory redundancies for a start and new contracts for those staying - fire and hire.
 
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GB

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For fairness, rail unions are not the only ones disputing pay rises.


Unions representing hundreds of thousands of local government workers have rejected a 1.5% pay offer, describing it as “insulting” to staff who worked hard to keep vital services running throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Unison, the GMB and Unite – which represent 750,000 council and school-support staff across England, Wales and Northern Ireland – said the Local Government Association’s 1.5% offer was “disappointing” when it was made earlier this month. Each has now turned down the offer on behalf of members.

Jon Richards, head of local government at Unison – which is the largest union force among council staff – said 1.5% “simply isn’t good enough”.
 

35B

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After working every day through the pandemic, after being lauded by management for being key workers, sacrificing weekends, giving up annual leave to cover shifts, working unsociable hours having to accept new rosters that are awful and leave you worse off each month.
I’m sorry...but F this we deserve to have a pay rise.
And if you don’t work in the industry then as far as I’m concerned your views are fairly irrelevant.
It is those who don’t work in an industry whose views are most relevant in this discussion. It is they who will be asked to provide tax funding for these rises, or who face price increases to meet those additional costs.
 

londonteacher

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After working every day through the pandemic, after being lauded by management for being key workers, sacrificing weekends, giving up annual leave to cover shifts, working unsociable hours having to accept new rosters that are awful and leave you worse off each month.
I’m sorry...but F this we deserve to have a pay rise.
And if you don’t work in the industry then as far as I’m concerned your views are fairly irrelevant.
Not every key worker is receiving a pay rise, yet we have all had our own difficulties over the last year.

If the RMT take action such as strikes then it will only push customers away as the railway will become unreliable.

I don't work in your industry but I do work in another industry where pay is frozen. Being a key worker means nothing I'm afraid - don't know why people expect special status for it?
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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If I ever needed a visual image of RMT to confirm that being in the 21st century is something that has passed their leadership without being noticed was an image that was published in the last two years of what looked like a convention of gangsters with one arm raised.

Has anyone got this particular image?
 
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158747

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After working every day through the pandemic, after being lauded by management for being key workers, sacrificing weekends, giving up annual leave to cover shifts, working unsociable hours having to accept new rosters that are awful and leave you worse off each month.
I’m sorry...but F this we deserve to have a pay rise.
And if you don’t work in the industry then as far as I’m concerned your views are fairly irrelevant.
But where is the money going to come from to pay for these pay rises? Anyone working on the railway are lucky they still have jobs to go to, unlike many people in other industries. If the Government hadn’t bailed out the railways during the pandemic they would have gone under months ago.
 
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bramling

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But where is the money going to come from to pay for these pay rises? Anyone working on the railway are lucky they still have jobs to go to, unlike many people in other industries, if the Government hadn’t bailed out the railways during the pandemic they would have gone under months ago.

I don’t really subscribe to that argument; one factor in people choosing careers is job security. There’s an expectation that an industry like the railway will be supported as an essential service, as it has been. In return for that people take up things like shift work, working weekends and bank holidays, lower pay (especially in the past), safety critical work, etc.

The railway does need to compete on these factors in order to attract quality people, especially with the standard of performance nowadays expected. Even with the surfeit of applicants for (some) roles this doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s a really rich choice to pick from.

I suspect most railway staff are realistic about things, however stuff like the Khan v Johnson political spat which has engulfed TfL over the last year doesn’t exactly make for harmonious relations when the staff are collateral damage in a political game, which is exactly what that is. Thankfully the big railway has avoided that - so far.
 

Journeyman

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But where is the money going to come from to pay for these pay rises? Anyone working on the railway are lucky they still have jobs to go to, unlike many people in other industries. If the Government hadn’t bailed out the railways during the pandemic they would have gone under months ago.
The bit in bold really annoys me. It's one of the absolute horrors of modern capitalism that so many people have the gun of destitution pointed at their heads, and it's used as a threat to make people tolerate all sorts of misery, humiliation and ill-treatment at work.

No-one should be considered "lucky" just because effectively they're not living in a cardboard box under a bridge.

But...if the RMT really dig their heels in now, many of their members are going to suffer big time, losing an absolute fortune on strike days at the very least, and possibly losing the battle over DOO and further automation.
 

GuyGibsonVC

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I'm in TSSA and didn't receive a pay rise in 2020 when other grades did. This, combined with having my bonus removed last year, left a bad taste. This was because the General Grade got their 2020 payrise and also their annual bonus.

My view was that either nobody at NR received it or everyone did. This just increased the 'Them and Us' culture. To be honest, the TSSA has done nothing to address the issue of years of pay rises for the General Grades meaning that many staff earn far more than their managers. This stifles succession, ideas, progress and creates bad feeling.

The usually benign TSSA membership in NR are fed up of it but the current situation means that a pay rise would be the wrong thing to do. Unions are stakeholder sin the business and have to do what is right for the railway, too.
 

winks

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Most of the clerical wages on the railway are overpaid compared to other sectors. COVID gives the govt a perfect excuse to freeze pay for 2 years and then GBR is in place with more “reform” I don’t expect staff will have their pay cut but perhaps frozen or newer contracts brought in under GBR. Older rail staff will be left alone to retire which is fine. After all this the railway will still have a excellent employment package such as free travel and good a/l.
 

AntoniC

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TY. I am a CS myself (Prospect member) and got screwed by being put on "modernised" T&Cs when l transferred Dept a couple of years ago. I have to say that all sounds eminently sensible. Seeing a win-win makes a nice change - I bet that HMT accepted it as it ultimately ends up being pretty much cost-neutral.
There are some people who still refuse to accept the result and are complaining about the result.
Your right though, there was something in the offer for everyone , a pay rise, a better contract for the majority and we had to give something up to get it.
I read through the offer and realised that on a personal level it was a good offer for me as there were more positives than negatives so I voted for it.
 

SignallerJohn

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Why is it always that people who don’t have a good Union dislike that we have a strong union? Isn’t that a sign that rather than weakening ours you should strengthen your own?
 

SignallerJohn

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After working every day through the pandemic, after being lauded by management for being key workers, sacrificing weekends, giving up annual leave to cover shifts, working unsociable hours having to accept new rosters that are awful and leave you worse off each month.
I’m sorry...but F this we deserve to have a pay rise.
And if you don’t work in the industry then as far as I’m concerned your views are fairly irrelevant.
o couldn’t have said it better myself.. i had guys shielding, self isolating dubiously and people being off short notice
 

Wolfie

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Why is it always that people who don’t have a good Union dislike that we have a strong union? Isn’t that a sign that rather than weakening ours you should strengthen your own?
Your TU has undoubtedly done well for you. However, things are very different now. Taking action, when the economy is flatlining, the railways are hemorrhaging money and are on life support, and there is an anti-TU government with a bloody big majority, is bluntly lemming like.
 

43096

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Where is the money coming from to support the people that have been on furlough for the past year?
Ultimately, taxpayers will be paying for the borrowing to fund it for the next several decades.

Which means that there isn’t money available to give pay rises currently for workers who the pandemic has shown are no longer essential.
 

Iskra

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Why is it always that people who don’t have a good Union dislike that we have a strong union? Isn’t that a sign that rather than weakening ours you should strengthen your own?
I don’t think it’s about jealousy, it’s about the rail industry’s consumers not wanting to subsidise it anymore unnecessarily, after a period of record subsidy, when many on here have admitted the job has been easier than ever.

(My union is just fine, payrise, extra days holiday and bonus schemes paid-out as normal in the last 12 months). I wasn’t expecting (or demanding) any of that however.

Any payrise for the rail industry is going to be at the expense of jobs, and will put off the customers who pay the wages, leading to a downward spiral creating even more redundancies.
 

bramling

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I don’t think it’s about jealousy, it’s about the rail industry’s consumers not wanting to subsidise it anymore unnecessarily, after a period of record subsidy, when many on here have admitted the job has been easier than ever.

(My union is just fine, payrise, extra days holiday and bonus schemes paid-out as normal in the last 12 months). I wasn’t expecting (or demanding) any of that however.

Any payrise for the rail industry is going to be at the expense of jobs, and will put off the customers who pay the wages, leading to a downward spiral creating even more redundancies.

It certainly hasn’t been easier than ever across the board. There may have been an element of less hassle for some grades, but for other grades it’s been the opposite. Anything to do with planning, crew management, control and the like are likely to have had it very tough, in many cases day after day - having to constantly find solutions to the various issues which have arisen, mainly centring upon short staffing.

The fact that things have generally ticked over is the result of a lot of hard work behind the scenes. Look no further than the issues LU have been having on the Met and associated lines for an example of what might have happened on a far wider scale.

A massive amount of juggling has been required to keep things moving.
 

LowLevel

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I don’t think it’s about jealousy, it’s about the rail industry’s consumers not wanting to subsidise it anymore unnecessarily, after a period of record subsidy, when many on here have admitted the job has been easier than ever.

(My union is just fine, payrise, extra days holiday and bonus schemes paid-out as normal in the last 12 months). I wasn’t expecting (or demanding) any of that however.

Any payrise for the rail industry is going to be at the expense of jobs, and will put off the customers who pay the wages, leading to a downward spiral creating even more redundancies.

The job is doing me in at the minute and many of my colleagues and managers say much the same. It certainly was easy for a while during the lockdowns - now it's probably the hardest it's ever been.

I certainly don't expect a payrise but given the value I believe I add in various ways (leaving door operations aside) as a hard working train guard I would be devastated to be made redundant - though I don't think that is particularly likely, at least in our area.
 

Stigy

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Personally I think a pay freeze is the right thing to do, no matter the industry, as long as the salary is indicative of the job role. Why should NHS workers/Police/Teachers etc receive a pay rise when they earn (generally) between £30k and £40k a year anyway? What’s good for the goose and all that.
 
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