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First Group a progressive Company

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Butts

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I have often seen First Group lamented on here for it's poor employee relations reputation.

Imagine my suprise today on reading an article in The Independent on Sunday that they are one of the few Companies in the UK to have Employee Directors on both the Main First Board and those of The Operating Companies.

These Non Executive Directors include Train Drivers and the like.

They are there to foster relations between the Companies High Command and Employees to faciltate a greater understanding of the view from the shop floor.

This has been in force for several years apparently.

Another First for First in The Rail Industry :p
 
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calc7

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Interesting. My Employment Relations module lecturer at uni said "that company that runs from London to Cardiff is very unionised and much like British Rail" (someone [not me] told her it was First Great Western).

She then went on to say that "Virgin Trains are more up to date and offer grad schemes and things like that".

Is there a grain of truth then? Either way, I didn't write about it in the exam! :x
 

Flamingo

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I have often seen First Group lamented on here for it's poor employee relations reputation.

Imagine my suprise today on reading an article in The Independent on Sunday that they are one of the few Companies in the UK to have Employee Directors on both the Main First Board and those of The Operating Companies.

These Non Executive Directors include Train Drivers and the like.

They are there to foster relations between the Companies High Command and Employees to faciltate a greater understanding of the view from the shop floor.

This has been in force for several years apparently.

Another First for First in The Rail Industry :p
The FGW chap is a Train Manager, nice chap as well. Elected by employees every few years, he was re-elected by quite a large margin. A surprising number of people of all grades go for it.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Interesting. My Employment Relations module lecturer at uni said "that company that runs from London to Cardiff is very unionised and much like British Rail" (someone [not me] told her it was First Great Western).

The railway (not just FGW) is very unionised, when I started first I was very surprised by the amount of things like block leave allocation, staff transfers and shift rota (links) that were organised by the union. Mind you, being a union rep seems to be a prerequisite of becoming a manager!
 
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TEW

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FGW however under it's current franchise has been fairly unaffected by industrial action. I can't remember any strikes so far, although there is currently a dispute over the door controls on the 180s.
 

34D

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I have often seen First Group lamented on here for it's poor employee relations reputation.

Imagine my suprise today on reading an article in The Independent on Sunday that they are one of the few Companies in the UK to have Employee Directors on both the Main First Board and those of The Operating Companies.

These Non Executive Directors include Train Drivers and the like.

They are there to foster relations between the Companies High Command and Employees to faciltate a greater understanding of the view from the shop floor.

This has been in force for several years apparently.

Another First for First in The Rail Industry :p

Spoken like a true TOC fanboi.

I'll simply say that on the inside First isn't like that at all- if you do the wrong thing then you are out.
 

Blindtraveler

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FGW however under it's current franchise has been fairly unaffected by industrial action. I can't remember any strikes so far, although there is currently a dispute over the door controls on the 180s.



what, just the door controlls? I'd have thought an all out dispute about the 180s in general would be more likely given there history. :)

quite glad to see confirmation that these board positions do actually exist and arnt just a fictional invention by the PR department. It does to a small extent provide some cumfort as staff I feel matter.

Oot sure if it spreads to the buses but with the mess at Scotland East I do wonder as staff relations there are pritty poor at the mo as some bus enthusiasts, not to mention my friends on FB know all too well!

At the wrisk of going OT, whats the 180 doors about? Is it a voyager style setup which Even I as an enthusiast can see would pee off TMs
 

Flamingo

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Basically, the door controls are in the drivers cab, but they should be accessible to the guard at the door itself. Apparently they were at the door when Northern was using them, and have just been modified by First to be driver only (which allows for DOO in the future). First Group are saying they are not allowed to modify them back, but are not coming up with anything in writing to prove that.
 

87015

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Basically, the door controls are in the drivers cab, but they should be accessible to the guard at the door itself. Apparently they were at the door when Northern was using them, and have just been modified by First to be driver only (which allows for DOO in the future). First Group are saying they are not allowed to modify them back, but are not coming up with anything in writing to prove that.
What was the mode of operation with FGW the first time round, appears to have been the original driver door release system as Northern modified them to be guard released?
 

Blindtraveler

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Basically, the door controls are in the drivers cab, but they should be accessible to the guard at the door itself. Apparently they were at the door when Northern was using them, and have just been modified by First to be driver only (which allows for DOO in the future). First Group are saying they are not allowed to modify them back, but are not coming up with anything in writing to prove that.



thanks for that. now did somebody say progressive? Id have said if they were that this issue wouldnt be here.
 

ainsworth74

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What was the mode of operation with FGW the first time round, appears to have been the original driver door release system as Northern modified them to be guard released?

Driver released the doors originally (and still does on HT and GC) Northern had them changed because the unions were up in arms about them bringing in stock that wasn't totally guard operated in relation to doors.
 

fgwrich

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Basically, the door controls are in the drivers cab, but they should be accessible to the guard at the door itself. Apparently they were at the door when Northern was using them, and have just been modified by First to be driver only (which allows for DOO in the future). First Group are saying they are not allowed to modify them back, but are not coming up with anything in writing to prove that.

And is exactly how the Thames Valley services are currently worked, and how the 180s used to operate etc...

Driver released the doors originally (and still does on HT and GC) Northern had them changed because the unions were up in arms about them bringing in stock that wasn't totally guard operated in relation to doors.

Im sure i read somewhere that the northern modification had essentially been botched / grafted into those 3 180s and added to the technical nightmare that is the 180s...Plus, as it's only 3 180s that have been modified, and with the rest of the Thames Valley services being near enough DOO already, why go to the hassle of having to remodify the other two to make them compatable with 3 other non standard 180s?
 

driver9000

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The 180 doors were originally worked in a similar way to Voyagers, ie driver releases and guard closes. The local door panels only have local door, all close, obstacle close and bell controls. In the cab there are 2 sets of door control - one set for each side on the desk and a corresponding set on the bulkhead. The set on the bulkhead were intended for use to open a train to passengers when the driver wasn't onboard or there was no master key in the desk. The bulkhead controls were the ones moved by Northern into the luggage van next to the crew door. The space in the cab was then blanked off while the controls were turned 180 degrees into the van space to enable the guard to work the doors. Before the Northern trio left Newton Heath the work was undone and the controls were put back to their original place.
 

Simon11

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I've recently left first for another toc because I felt there was a lack of promotion opportunities and not feeling valued.....
 
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