Strikes (and other Industrial Disputes)

[tbtc]

Are they becoming more common, or is just confirmation bias because I view Forums such as this one (and therefore hear about every potential dispute, even if many/most grievances don't actually see staff walking out or taking other action/ inaction)?

This isn't a thread about the rights and wrongs of any particular strike - this is a question about whether they are becoming more regular, or even "the norm".

Sometimes, it seems that the threat of a strike is raised every time a TOC sits down to deal with the annual pay rise - but then I do read the views of various rail staff (some of whom are more militant than others) which probably gives the impression that industrial relations are at an all time low (just like they were a couple of years ago, and a couple of years before that).

Are things actually getting worse, or is it just that things are being reported on more (especially in the age where every dispute can quickly become an argument online)? The same seems to be the case in the bus industry - there seems more disruption, but much of it may just be fighting talk rather than concrete "news"?

Assuming that there's no move to DOO in a particular area, would it work if a new TOC sat down with the Unions at the start of the franchise and guaranteed to pay full (Retail Price Index) inflationary increases each year with no change to employment terms and conditions - or do all parties benefit from an annual "head to head"?

 

[thenorthern]

From memory industrial action was a lot more common under British Rail although after privatisation there was a fair amount of industrial action until around 2002 when industrial action became quite rare. I would say though in the past 4 years though the number strikes has begun to increase.

I would say though since privatisation that Network Rail and the train operating companies have studied what causes unions to call industrial action and got their solicitors to check if strikes are lawful by using past examples of strikes. This means that NR and the TOCs will try and not give the unions a reason to call a strike while at the same time the unions won't call a strike if the think that it could be declared unlawful.

Industrial action is a interesting subject though as I was talking to someone who worked at Michelin in Stoke-on-Trent during the 1970s and he mentioned back then if a union called a strike the management would do whatever they could to get the union to call it off as they had orders from all over the world that needed to be completed on time. Today however if the union were to call a strike it would just be "great see you the day after then we have enough stock in the warehouse to complete the orders" from the management.

Also given not all workers in an industry are part of the same union and some workers aren't members of any union complete shutdowns of anything due to industrial action are very rare nowadays.

 

[Carlisle]

Assuming that there's no move to DOO in a particular area, would it work if a new TOC sat down with the Unions at the start of the franchise and guaranteed to pay full (Retail Price Index) inflationary increases each year with no change to employment terms and conditions - or do all parties benefit from an annual "head to head"?

Isn't that pretty much what's happened at most TOCs anyway since privatisation?, unions understandably have managed to get some good deals mainly due to the large increase in passanger numbers iand TOCs wanting to make the most of their extra revenue rather than loose it during strike days .Only C2C has converted to DOO in that period until very recently so there were no other major battles to be fought out on that front

 

[Agent_c]

I think it's a case that after the crash the rest of us said "fair enough, there's no money". Now we see as things get better that one side is benefiting, the rest of us aren't, so we're more willing to stand up.

 

[EM2]

It depends what you mean by 'more common'. In the days of nationalisation, the unions negotiated with two companies, BR and LU.
Now they deal with NR, all the TOCs, LUL, the maintenance companies and so on.

 

[thenorthern]

It depends what you mean by 'more common'. In the days of nationalisation, the unions negotiated with two companies, BR and LU.
Now they deal with NR, all the TOCs, LUL, the maintenance companies and so on.

Also then because British Rail was a national operator the effect of a strike would be larger. As TOCs are regional or inter-city today it means industrial action is normally confined to a single part of the country.