I think you have some very valid points, such as the potential for technological advancement to automate many of the functions that a guard has, however the way your arguments were presented meant that they were rather buried underneath a general rant about the role of guards, which inevitably caught more attention.
While you claim that people on the opposite side of your arguments have failed to put forward convincing proofs, I, like many others, also fail to see how you have put forward concrete proofs that guards are unnecessary.
I totally agree...they should be like bobbys patrolling when not working...ie conducting safety walks for their oh so important safety role!
Yes, I agree with you on this and I believe that it is what the majority of guards do, or at least they did based on my observations.
The problem is that in the past the guards hid in one of the cabs and so weren't as visible so could get away with laziness.
Is there a credible source for this statement or is it purely an accusation?
Now they have offices in the main carriages so are very visible and their unbelievable laziness is even more visible. On Virgin they can normally be found reading newspapers or chatting with shop staff. On SWT often found doing the crossword. On SWT 159's they are locked in the back cab but can be seen when they go to open doors putting their paper down. Otherwise they sit with the trolley person (after the trolley person has finished working) and the spare driver in first class chatting. It's not one off experience it's 90% of the frequent times I travel.
As with all professions, there are bad apples, however it is ridiculous to generalise from a small sample.
I very much doubt that 90% is a statement of fact, even based on your own observations. To be honest I would be very shocked if that percentage is anywhere near even 50%, and you will see that too if you kept a detailed log of every single journey that you do.
The way our mind works is that we do not remember instances where what we see conforms to our own expectations or agrees with our own opinions, whatever they might be. We remember the bad ones, those that we don't agree with, those that don't conform to our expectations and the more this happens, the more exaggerated, as a proportion, it becomes in our own minds.
Furthermore what would you think of a guard who has performed all his duties (safety, revenue, etc) and is now sitting down for a 5-minute break in his cab, while the catering department is fully staffed. Is he therefore being lazy in your opinion? If so, please tell me how often do you just sit/stand there idle during one shift in your job?
As for the Virgin guard the day of the diversion, when not dealing with the couple of queries (which I ended up solving for him anyway as he was so lost) he spent the rest of the time chatting to the shop staff from his office and was completely visible so I do know for sure what he wasn't doing. The fact is whether you agree or disagree with me on guards being needed you certainly cannot claim, as some have, that guards are always busy except on stopping services. Virgin guards particularly have very little to do on the non-stop Euston to Warrington bit and are very good at doing nothing except chat. I understand it is your livelihood but in every job I have worked in roles become superfluous due to technological advance and a guard certainly is no longer needed nd no one has produced any cold hard figures proving otherwise...including the RMT.
So how about being constructive and informing Virgin of such a poor standard of performance by one of their staff so that he can be trained to perform to a higher standard?
Yes, new technology might be able to carry out some of the tasks that a guard does, however we're a long way off from being that far ahead for various reasons that have been mentioned.
Why do you think that aeroplanes still need co-pilots? Why do ships need First Officers?
One last thing on the pathetic hygiene argument for not helping. It is a well known fact that money is one of the dirtiest things to handle and trolley staff handle that all the time, more than guards. To follow strict hygiene rules they should wear disposable gloves to handle any food but given the food is all prepacked it is not seen as an issue so a guard could quiet easily help if they weren't so lazy and so stuck in their "jobsworth" attitude.
I agree that the hygiene argument doesn't hold much water, however many people, even guards, have agreed with you that they would be very willing to help, when they have finished with their other duties, if short-staffed in the catering department.
I don't know what your job is, but imagine for a moment that you're the CEO of a multi-national corporation, would you be happy to be told to go and clean the toilet whenever you sit there idle for 5 minutes? If not, why?
I fail to see how the word "jobsworth" is any relevant here other than the fact that you wanted to have a rant at the guards in general.
Well of course he wouldn't be as the RMT have to maintain this idea that train guards are so vital to maintain both their jobs and pay levels and thus union dues. The RMT do a very good job on that front of putting guards on a pedestal that quite frankly they don't deserve.
Why do they not deserve it? Guards are not particularly well paid. Words like
over-paid are meaningless as people's opinion differs wildly. The way I see it is that no one is over-paid, because if an employer deems a position to be worthwhile having, then that employee is worth every penny he/she is paid. If a job exists, then it has its value. If guards are really that unnecessary, do you not think that the profit-chasing TOCs would have just ignored those empty threats of strikes and sacked the lot?
The sooner we go DOO nationwide the better. If we can't fire all guards they should be redeployed on the MUCH lower pay of station staff checking tickets, manning booking offices, helping people get to platforms etc. If they all actually worked as station assistants they'd really just how cushy they have life and they could watch trains leave safely and guardless all day long. It would be a reality check but would increase station staffing levels making the railway safer...more safe than with guards on the trains reading papers.
If it really is as simple as you suggest then why do you think it has not happened?
I'm sorry but like many others have said, I seriously struggle to see the value of much of what you have said.