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Greater Anglia vote for strike action (ASLEF)
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Presumably over the lack of a payrise?
Yes. Negotiations continue this month. Hopefully something will be resolved without having to resort to industrial action (or action short of) but who knows? Watch this space.
This is my fear as well. We'll heading towards a bit of a stalemate and who will blink first. Sadly passengers will be the big losers, just as many people were getting used to coming back to trains.
That being said if these strikes form part of wider discontentment & industrial action amongst the UK workforce that almost makes it 'better' because its a wider issue and not the "greedy rail unions bringing the country to its knees" again.
That’s a good point actually.
It’s astonishing how much dissatisfaction there is around generally, at the moment. Plus of course there’s a labour shortage in many industries so wage rises are likely to be a fact of life for many.
Arguably we’ve become far too used to underpaying for many things in this country (thinking especially in terms of the “gig economy”), so perhaps that’s no bad thing.
andystock22
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First thing many office commuters do now when they hear there is a train strike, is to arrange their working from home days to be on strike days.
While many office employers now instruct their employees to work from home on train strike days.
I cant see many civil servants returning to the office 5 days a week with all these upcoming train strikes!
While many office employers now instruct their employees to work from home on train strike days.
I cant see many civil servants returning to the office 5 days a week with all these upcoming train strikes!
dk1
Veteran Member
No dates announced yet as far as I’m aware. Might just be some disruption to start with if working to rule.
Nicholas Lewis
Established Member
Presumably GA made a pay offer that was rejected by ASLEF? and GA not provided an increased offer so ASLEF sought a ballot to determine whether action should be taken.
Without wishing to take this thread off topic, you might be onto something there.
I work as a teacher and my union has just successfully balloted for strke action.
Pay, workload, and lack of consultation on “restructuring” (read: eventual redundancies).
I hope GA (and, ultimately, other TOC) employees are able to gain a satisfactory resolution.
No offer made. GA have no offer to make as far as I know. The first pay meeting went well with... Nothing to offer, sorry.
dk1
Veteran Member
Next scheduled meeting should be 13th June.
dk1
Veteran Member
Would like to think any industrial action can be avoided. Seems a long time to wait for a meeting considering the severity.
43096
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As keeps being pointed out, resolution really depends with DfT and Treasury as they are telling the TOCs what they can and can’t spend - including pay settlements.
I’m sure that’s the way it went at scotrail as well. I think they had 3 meetings without an offer and in the 4th they offered 2.2% which was rejected and the ballot recommendation was put forward.
Presumably a pay increase linked to productivity would be more acceptable to HM Treasury. I suppose that would imply DOO.
As has also been repeatedly pointed out, unions can’t negotiate directly with DfT/treasury (who we know are behind all this), only with the company. So not quite sure what your point is?
Not necessarily (plus they already have a fair bit of it).
Unfortunately this only drives the frustration; "Sorry, nothing to offer.....still nothing to offer.....nope, still can't offer anything.....oh look, we've managed to find 2.2%". It just suggests dishonesty.
You can fully appreciate why the unions believe, rightly or otherwise, that striking will eventually produce the figure that they want. Why not come straight out with the first offer, explain that is all you can provide and at least be halfway honest. Trying to start a negotiation at 0 merely drags things out for all concerned, passengers included.
That there's no point blaming the TOCs basically. You may not be able to negotiate directly with the DfT / Treasury but equally there's no point saying "the TOC need to come back with a better offer as we've got a strong mandate" as it isn't within their gift anymore to come back with one.
The DfT want to have their cake and eat it. They want the ideology of privatisation with profits to private companies (ROSCOs and TOCs) but the don't want the staff to benefit from competition between TOCs or for their union representatives to be able to negotiate directly with employers
When banks were bailed out with taxpayer money, the directors at one major bank threatened to resign if they couldn't pay the staff of the bank's investment arm contractual bonuses. The government yielded.
We've seen the airline industry get lots of cash yet the government never asked the airlines to fully fund their pilot training programmes to allow candidates with limited financial means the ability to access a popular and well-remunerated career. easyJet have been looking for pilot cadets once again and it's still £109k for the cadet to fund.
When banks were bailed out with taxpayer money, the directors at one major bank threatened to resign if they couldn't pay the staff of the bank's investment arm contractual bonuses. The government yielded.
We've seen the airline industry get lots of cash yet the government never asked the airlines to fully fund their pilot training programmes to allow candidates with limited financial means the ability to access a popular and well-remunerated career. easyJet have been looking for pilot cadets once again and it's still £109k for the cadet to fund.
We all know the TOCs are just puppets but the request “you need to come back with a better offer” can only ever be made to the TOC, and any offer will only ever come through the TOC. Therefore it’s correct to describe the negotiation as being with the company.
I honestly don’t think there’s anyone left in the industry who fails to understand that the government are holding the purse strings at this point. I suppose it’s just a bit laborious to type out “the company (and the government standing behind them)” every time!
There’s no meaningful competition between TOCs, however there is between the multitude of companies they select to do business with in order to deliver their services.
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PG
Established Member
I presume that @Economist means competition for staff in that individuals employed by one TOC can offer their services to another TOC who may have better (or worse) terms and conditions. Thus individual TOCs are in competition with each other for staff even though DfT are providing the funding for all non open access TOCs.
Did BR ever manage to harmonise T&Cs at any time in its existence, as this is probably what DfT desire? Can't see it happening somehow...
Re your last para l can't see it happening at all. The department that l work in reduced office space severely. It now can't actually, outside certain specialist areas, accommodate more than 50% of staff with a desk in the office on any one day. It is far from unique either.
Bear that in mind when you next see ministers spouting on the subject.....
There seems to be a lot of strike action threatened or going ahead on the railways at the moment. Does anyone have an explanation of what it is all about.
A pandemic-induced economic slump during when the government has spent a ton of money furloughing people, and just prior to spending a ton of money assisting the population with their energy bills due to the worst cost of living crisis in decades, does not strike me as the best time to demand a pay rise which either the public or the government has to find money for.
A pandemic-induced economic slump during when the government has spent a ton of money furloughing people, and just prior to spending a ton of money assisting the population with their energy bills due to the worst cost of living crisis in decades, does not strike me as the best time to demand a pay rise which either the public or the government has to find money for.
It's about there not being any pay rise for 3 years (at most TOCs) - after having received pay rises at least matching inflation, and in many cases exceeding that, for the previous 20-25 years.
So obviously there is a strong expectation amongst employees and union members that pre-Covid practices will resume; the fact that the government effectively unconditionally underwrote the industry has only served to strengthen this impression. There has certainly been some very poor expectation management on the part of the government and TOCs.
The environment of high inflation only serves to inflame these tensions, with the unions demanding inflationary rises whilst the government wants to treat the railway the same way as the Civil Service (which it is effectively now part of) - with 2% increases, rising to 3% if efficiencies can fund the difference.
Until and unless there is a meeting of the minds, which will inevitably involve a degree of compromise on all sides, the industrial unrest and resultant disruption will continue.
Falcon1200
Established Member
There might have been local variations but to the best of my knowledge grades and rates of pay were standard across BR, so that for example a booking clerk would typically be Clerical Officer Grade 2 whether at Dover or inverness, and paid the same.
There were countless allowances though - so this wouldn't necessarily be the case in practice.
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