Friend of mine did Soweby Bridge Manchester Sheffield Leeds Sowerby the other day and didn't encounter a single ticket check. Am I alone in wondering what guards are paid to do.
The primary role of a Guard is to do stuff like train despatch etc, and
not revenue.
On some TOCs Guards do not ever do revenue (e.g. SWR have non-commercial Guards for their inner suburban routes). Revenue is pretty much
last on the list of priorities. Several Northern Guards don't seem to do much in the way of revenue collection, and it's very rare to see revenue be collected on an evening on almost any route I've travelled on.
The new role is very different; the staff would not be allowed to remain in the cab and must instead be in the passenger accommodation, and the main purpose of their role is to provide customer service and revenue collection.
Not everyone likes the idea of having their role changed so that they can no longer remain in their own private compartment and instead have to be with the general public, so obviously this change isn't welcomed by them.
But it is arguably a good move for passengers, as it will reduce instances such as your experience, and will bring Northern up to the level of service customers can experience in other areas.
If the guards were bothered about that, they'd stop striking. AIUI many of them are making it up via overtime.
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True, many of them aren't bothered, and clearly the wages they get despite not working Saturdays is sufficient for them for the foreseeable future.
I am lucky in that I can get alternative operators for almost all my journeys, and it doesn't really affect me. I've sometimes got to places quicker, and more cheaply, due to ticket acceptance. There have been times I've planned to do something in somewhere like Bradford and we've taken our business to somewhere else e.g. Wakefield instead but it had no negative impact on me.
It's the people who rely on the service at the smaller stations who are most affected.
It's probably good for bus companies!
I mean that simply striking every Saturday is utterly pointless for everyone. The Government/Northern aren't going to budge, the guards get their Saturdays off but lose a day's pay indefinitely and the passengers either use alternative methods of travel or just stay in the house/local area on a Saturday. For all the background noise this pathetic cold war of Saturday strikes could go on all next year with nobody budging an inch.
I'm not saying more strikes will achieve anything but if strikes are their way of trying to win (which is the intention) then why not strike through the week as well? Either that or knock the strikes on the head.They're getting nowhere as they are.
Yes it will achieve nothing, but the RMT aren't exactly the brightest of sparks, and they are not going to change their ways. They can't strike all through the week as Guards couldn't afford to do that.
Saturdays are the best day for them as Guards are more likely to want to have the day off as there will be other things they can do on Saturdays.
Surely the more moderate guards must be feeling the pinch by now and are thinking of asking their union to reduce the number of strikes? Most people with a family and a mortgage can't afford to take an indefinite 20% pay cut.
Maybe I'm being naive but striking say every other Saturday would enable RMT to keep up the pressure without their members suffering as great a financial loss?
It is a very well paid job when compared to many of the other jobs people with the necessary skills would otherwise be able to get, and they can claw back some (most?) of the amount back by working overtime.
I agree moderates probably would want to work but some depots probably have the sort of atmosphere where they would be criticised and ostracized by the more vocal ones; I've heard some stories about the culture at some mess rooms and it's not always good.
My point is that 40 strike days have achieved nothing, so 50, 80 or 100 are also very unlikely to change anything.
True but the RMT don't have the intelligence to realise this, and even if they did, they wouldn't care.
When the strikes first started though, they were relatively infrequent and on differing days so didn't cause too much inconvenience. Now, some lines haven't seen a service on a Saturday since August 18th which becomes more inconvenient. I do wonder if the strikes had started out at every Saturday back in March 2017 whether we would have had a conclusion by now
For people who rely on service at local stations, I agree it is worse. But RMT members will prefer Saturdays off, so I doubt we will go back to how things were before. For me, it's not an issue, as I just plan accordingly.
