There is a nasty little 'gotcha' if you earn close the the point where you pay higher tax (just over 50k per year) and your wife/husband/partner either doesn't work or earns less than around £10k pa. If your earnings are just below the threshold you can claim the marriage allowance, which is worth about £250 per year, but even £1 above the threshold and you lose the whole of the £250.
I can't afford it either. But as sure as anything if my colleagues vote to strike ill do the decent thing and walk out. Why? Because when that ineveitable payrise is eventually won , I will have played my part and not been a freeloader. If everyone thought like you we would be on half the money we are on now.
The RMT have reportedly balloted for strike action 204 times in the past three years. It's demonstrably very much the first resort rather than the last.
But those drivers are the union. We keep being told that these disputes are what the staff want as they voted for them. Same applies for the union itself: it’s the membership who vote in the leaders who set the policy.
How many times has there actually been any strike action out of the 204 ballots? That would be a better comparison, ballot v strike action.
Not in the context of what was being replied to, it wouldn’t.
So every time Mick Whelan has made a decision it is because drivers wanted it? Umm, well it is a good line to put forward in an argument, but it doesn't hold up water does it. Just like the argument that all those in the RMT who voted 'No' wanted it. ASLEF sadly has a track record of trying to put one over on the other unions for it's own members gains. You could argue there is nothing wrong in this, and they are just trying to get the best for it's members. But is this really what trade union principles are about? Workers ****ting all other other workers? You see, some of us take this line not because we just don't like something such as a union, but because we see it take place.
I saw 10 BMWs in Tesco earlier and actual Tesco workers got into them. This is disgusting who do they think they are driving a car to work! Let alone a high end one! Disgusting!!! overpaid are those supermarket workers.
Don’t be sour, come join usMy views on the RMT were formed back in 2016. Obviously I supported the strike on Northern about conductor roles, but it was this piece in the link below that stuck in my gullet.
RMT sets out six key reasons for leaving the EU
TRANSPORT UNION RMT today set out six key reasons why it will be advising members to vote to the leave the EU in the forthcoming referendum:www.rmt.org.uk
Never in all my life have I read such guff. Everyone of those arguments could have, and now probably will be implemented by a Tory government. Even Jeremy Corbyn indirectly warned the RMT were wrong. This convinced me that the RMT is led by donkeys.
But this raises my second point. Why has the RMT never had a conversation with it's members what public ownership of the railways would mean. Tell me a single profession in public ownership that has managed to get a good pay deal out of their government masters? Why on earth did the RMT think it could get anything better? Yet on and on they go about public owned railways.
RMT members to me are like sheep following the ram, eventually the ram will f*** you over. And that process has now begun.
Nah. I'm happy to go into work. I don't like listening to the uneducated on the picket lines spouted by those who unknown to themselves will end up back at work a few weeks down the line. Poorer, bitter, and blaming all and sunder for their errors of judgement.
This is true. However, as you are providing a figure without any context, your statement is wholly inaccurate. For what you said to be true "It's demonstrably very much the first resort" then those ballots would have to have been issued as the initial response to the FIRST mention of any proposal pertinent to them.
You need to address that to the person who wrote the original point, as it wasn’t me.
What sort of percentage would you be happy with to forget the safety arguments?
Do you really think that all of that equates enough money for say a 5% pay rise for 40000+ staff? Even if rail was nationalised again, you'd need regional communication/marketing/IT/commercial etc departments and regional directors too. And again, a rail worker is advocating someone else losing their job for their own gain - sickening.
Agree with this wholeheartedly. Part of the reason we're in a cost of living crisis is Brexit and the RMT pushed for it. I'll certainly never forget they wanted it.My views on the RMT were formed back in 2016. Obviously I supported the strike on Northern about conductor roles, but it was this piece in the link below that stuck in my gullet.
RMT sets out six key reasons for leaving the EU
TRANSPORT UNION RMT today set out six key reasons why it will be advising members to vote to the leave the EU in the forthcoming referendum:www.rmt.org.uk
Never in all my life have I read such guff. Everyone of those arguments could have, and now probably will be implemented by a Tory government. Even Jeremy Corbyn indirectly warned the RMT were wrong. This convinced me that the RMT is led by donkeys.
But this raises my second point. Why has the RMT never had a conversation with it's members what public ownership of the railways would mean. Tell me a single profession in public ownership that has managed to get a good pay deal out of their government masters? Why on earth did the RMT think it could get anything better? Yet on and on they go about public owned railways.
RMT members to me are like sheep following the ram, eventually the ram will f*** you over. And that process has now begun.
This comment is spot on. The government may well reach a settlement with NR, I think the lever pullers are probably in a good position regarding that.
When someone uses a phrase like this, it makes me switch off. It doesn't lend credence to your post and comes across as sounding bitter
To get straight to the point, if anyone is not enjoying their job I would strongly encourage them to find another. If you can't find a suitable alternative, then perhaps the T&Cs at your current employer are not actually that bad.
You sound very bitter; trying to suggest your colleagues are "freeloaders" and suggesting their actions are not "decent". It says a lot about you and only makes me feel even less inclined to support the unions.
This has to be some sort of parody/joke; it cannot possibly be serious post.
This doesn't do your cause any good and comes across as being bitter; are you really that unhappy in your job that you need to come out with stuff like this? I hope not!
That's fair enough if you are also including those turning against those who don't support strike action.
Do you realise how inflation works? Do you think paying everyone more makes the problem go away?
Beats me, Towers, I may say X percent but I know of colleagues on other routes who say they want inflation. I’m not the one negotiating it. But anything less than inflation is a pay cut whether people like that or not.
I suspect the answer around the RMT's top table is that they've lulled themselves into a false sense of security. I honestly believe that the RMT leaders believe this is an easy win against a weak government. Whilst it is true the government is weaker than it was, it still has a 80 seat majority in the house & is two years away from a general election & didn't come off anything like as badly as it should in local elections last month. Or in other words the government still has the political capability to sit out a long running rail strike, and potentially even make political gains from it.
Public transport absolutely should be seen as a vital public service. However we currently have a government that is ideologically opposed to the idea of "big government", and that includes having a publicly run transport system. They have only stepped in because they did not perceive it was the right time to let the railway network collapse. But workers should not labour under the delusion that this government isn't eying up cutbacks in future, be they big axe swings like the eastern leg of HS2, or a death by a thousand cuts as being seen on parts of the network with service cutbacks.
You are entitled to your views but those who were forced into isolation and had their pay cut against their will are equally entitled to a different view. You really don't know how lucky you are at times.
Absolutely; if that occurs then it needs to be the strongest possible action.
This is an excellent point; some people don't realise just how good their T&Cs actually are.