Have the working from home arrangements put in for Covid rendered rail strikes ineffective?

[Bertie the bus]

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/industry-preparing-for-national-strikes.232025

The point about limited effect due to home working is true though. Most office workers now have the equipment and knowledge to work from home so if there are strikes it won't be the chaos in London past transport strikes have caused. People will just work from home on strike days.

 

[bramling]

The point about limited effect due to home working is true though. Most office workers now have the equipment and knowledge to work from home so if there are strikes it won't be the chaos in London past transport strikes have caused. People will just work from home on strike days.

One says that, but the recent LU strikes were still pretty disruptive.

I wish this awful government would just get on with running the country, rather than causing problems with everything they touch. At least some of the inflation crisis is the result of their excessively prolonged Covid response.

 

[D1537]

I wish this awful government would just get on with running the country, rather than causing problems with everything they touch. At least some of the inflation crisis is the result of their excessively prolonged Covid response.

Well, apart from the fact (in England at least) they were one of the *first* Governments to remove Covid restrictions.

There are three reasons for the inflation crisis, and none of them are Covid related. They are fuel and food price related, together with supply chain and labour mobility issues. So those reasons are (1) Ukraine, (2) Brexit and (3) Incompetence

 

[bramling]

Well, apart from the fact (in England at least) they were one of the *first* Governments to remove Covid restrictions.

There are three reasons for the inflation crisis, and none of them are Covid related. They are fuel and food price related, together with supply chain and labour mobility issues. So those reasons are (1) Ukraine, (2) Brexit and (3) Incompetence

What about constant QE throughout the whole thing? Releasing money into the economy, and at the same time the various Covid disruptions causing unusual demand patterns at a time when there have been supply-chain issues, was never going to give a good outcome. Inflation was already becoming an issue before Ukraine.

 

[Drogba11CFC]

Also, when would they be planning to hold this? I'm on holiday 3/6-8/6 and I've been looking forward to it ever since Drakeford admitted defeat on masks. I can't bear being cheated out of it this late in the game; it'll just make me even more paranoid.

It's time the government acted like they had an 80 seat majority and put passengers first.

 

[muz379]

The point about limited effect due to home working is true though. Most office workers now have the equipment and knowledge to work from home so if there are strikes it won't be the chaos in London past transport strikes have caused. People will just work from home on strike days.

If the targeted strike days were commuting days then this might be true .

At the moment though in the industry it's the leisure market that has recovered and is even running at above post covid levels in places , this where the money is coming in .

 

[Paul Jones 88]

So they are voting whether or not to kick the public in the head after two years of Covid and a war in Ukraine pushing the cost of living through the roof, well of office workers will continue to WFH and the poor sods at the warehouse or the fulfillment center cannot get to work because people are probably better off than them will be going on strike.
How about a bit of national pride or is that too much to ask?

 

[SignallerJohn]

So they are voting whether or not to kick the public in the head after two years of Covid and a war in Ukraine pushing the cost of living through the roof, well of office workers will continue to WFH and the poor sods at the warehouse or the fulfillment center cannot get to work because people are probably better off than them will be going on strike.
How about a bit of national pride or is that too much to ask?

I hope I can pay for my gas next month with national pride

 

[DaventryRabbit]

Any Strike will no doubt now take place over a weekend ( or in TPE's case be extended to Saturday as well). A Weekday stoppage would not cause anywhere near the chaos that it would have done even a few Years ago. If the result of the ballot is known next Week, what chance of action over the Long Jubilee Weekend? Ideal for maximum disruption and, sadly, publicity as well...

 

[AlterEgo]

The Unions surely aren't daft enough to do it over the Jubilee Weekend!

 

[HullRailMan]

There will be very little public support for this given how well most rail staff are already paid. The government can easily frame this as militant agitators from people whose starting salaries are often higher than many NHS staff etc, and point out how much the taxpayer is already spending to support the industry.

 

[Jan Mayen]

I can't do my job from home. So it'll be an unpaid day(s) off if I can't get in.
Oh well....

 

[uglymonkey]

Which means you are less able to pay for your gas bill, unlike those well paid railway workers ( or so the public thinks).

 

[Kite159]

Any Strike will no doubt now take place over a weekend ( or in TPE's case be extended to Saturday as well). A Weekday stoppage would not cause anywhere near the chaos that it would have done even a few Years ago. If the result of the ballot is known next Week, what chance of action over the Long Jubilee Weekend? Ideal for maximum disruption and, sadly, publicity as well...

Unlikely as don't they need to give 14 days notice? That deadline has already passed.

But I wouldn't have put it passed the RMT to call a strike over that weekend to cause as much trouble as possible.

Hopefully enough rail staff have seen sense not to fall for the large trap being set for them. P&O round 2, some will choose to exit the industry others will accept the new 21st century contract knowing they won't get half as much cash working elsewhere.

 

[Dai Corner]

I can't do my job from home. So it'll be an unpaid day(s) off if I can't get in.
Oh well....

Hopefully you'll be able to arrange a lift with a colleague?

You might even find car-sharing is better than getting the train and there will be one less passenger for the railways in future. And tens of thousands of others might do the same.

Bullet, meet foot.

 

[yorksrob]

I fear the industry is sleepwalking into disaster.

 

[TUC]

I suspect the rail unions are as Lindon-centred as many other organisations and don't realise that outside London rail is just one travel option. Throw into that the ability for many to work from home and it's 'do what you want. We'll just get on withour lives without you'.

 

[SignallerJohn]

There will be very little public support for this given how well most rail staff are already paid. The government can easily frame this as militant agitators from people whose starting salaries are often higher than many NHS staff etc, and point out how much the taxpayer is already spending to support the industry. Turkeys lead by donkeys.

How much do you think people on the railway get paid? Are you equally as annoyed that the people in the ivory tower are paid substantially more than most management jobs?

 

[westv]

I fear the industry is sleepwalking into disaster.

Well the RMT main role is to organise strikes. What on earth would they do if they didn't do that?!

 

[wobman]

Well the RMT main role is to organise strikes. What on earth would they do if they didn't do that?!

Obviously you don't understand what trade unions actually do if you think that is the case.

 

[Dai Corner]

Well the RMT main role is to organise strikes. What on earth would they do if they didn't do that?!

I thought it was to collect subs, pay officials and pick fights with the Tories?

 

[AlterEgo]

How much do you think people on the railway get paid? Are you equally as annoyed that the people in the ivory tower are paid substantially more than most management jobs?

That's not the point; it's how the politics play out that is most important. The optics aren't good for the railway, which has had gallons of cash thrown at it to do very little for a whole year, and which is resistant to changing to adapt to the needs of its customers.

A national strike will not be a disaster but it will be less effective than many people think. Strikes really only work when you're stopping people in big cities being productive, like it was a few years back when WFH was much less common. Many people have adapted to be able to avoid using the railway and even have flex days which they'll use instead.

 

[Paul Jones 88]

The Unions will ultimately kill the railway much like they killed the British car industry in the 70s, bloody dinosaurs.

 

[AM9]

I suspect that if the unions get the vote that they want, and call an essentially ineffective strike, then support will fizzle out and put them back in their box for a couple of years.

 

[Bantamzen]

I fear the industry is sleepwalking into disaster.

It is indeed, from all sides there seems to be a grim determination to destroy itself.

 

[Andypandy1968]

What about constant QE throughout the whole thing? Releasing money into the economy, and at the same time the various Covid disruptions causing unusual demand patterns at a time when there have been supply-chain issues, was never going to give a good outcome. Inflation was already becoming an issue before Ukraine.

Exactly, Ukraine is a very convenient excuse

 

[fgwrich]

It is indeed, from all sides there seems to be a grim determination to destroy itself.

Particularly in a post covid world where the government pulls the strings. Worrying times indeed.

 

[philosopher]

That's not the point; it's how the politics play out that is most important. The optics aren't good for the railway, which has had gallons of cash thrown at it to do very little for a whole year, and which is resistant to changing to adapt to the needs of its customers.

A national strike will not be a disaster but it will be less effective than many people think. Strikes really only work when you're stopping people in big cities being productive, like it was a few years back when WFH was much less common. Many people have adapted to be able to avoid using the railway and even have flex days which they'll use instead.

Industrial action a few years ago definitely made sense from the union’s perspective, as the train operators and / or government would quickly give in as they could not afford the economic impact from people being unable to get to work.

Now, due to WFH, industrial action on the railways is not likely to be as economically damaging. Therefore the government could just as easily play a long game with the unions, similar to what they did with the coal mining unions in the 1980’s. This could be bad news for the railways as a prolonged period of industrial unrest could cause many leisure passengers to abandon the railway and the government would then have a free reign to implement widespread cuts. Again this would echo what happened to the coal mining industry.

The RMT needs to be careful what they wish for.

 

[Falcon1200]

Obviously you don't understand what trade unions actually do if you think that is the case.

One of the RMT's objectives, as per its website is;

to work for the supersession of the capitalist system by a socialistic order of society;


To answer the OP's question, I would say yes, partially at least; My son has been WFH since Covid, often finishing work in Glasgow at 2000, so the (disgraceful) withdrawal of Scotrail's evening trains would have already affected him from next Monday, as of course would an all-out strike, however that will not be the case now.

 

[wobman]

One of the RMT's objectives, as per its website is;

to work for the supersession of the capitalist system by a socialistic order of society;


To answer the OP's question, I would say yes, partially at least; My son has been WFH since Covid, often finishing work in Glasgow at 2000, so the (disgraceful) withdrawal of Scotrail's evening trains would have already affected him from next Monday, as of course would an all-out strike, however that will not be the case now.

You have chosen 1 element, how about listing the rest of the RMT's objectives to show it in real context.