SWT Potential Olympic Strike

[Goldfish62]

Here's what the website says about later trains:

We have arranged with the Olympic Delivery Authority and the Department for Transport to alter some late evening services after 2330. The following trains will run later than normal:
2338 London Waterloo to Reading will start at 2350 and the connection from Ascot to Farnham will be held.
2340 London Waterloo to Salisbury will start at 2355.
2345 London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour will start at 0005.
0005 London Waterloo to Bournemouth will start at 0030.
An extra train will run at 0038 from London Waterloo to Staines, and the 0050 London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour will run every evening of the Games.
Some extra services will run on Sunday mornings where the normal timetable would start too late for people to travel to events.

Hardly everything running an hour later! Are these few (too few IMO) alterations really worth a strike? What the hell is wrong with the RMT?!

 

[infobleep]

Why are people to adverse to change? Change occurs in all walks of life and in many jobs over the years, in both small and large ways.

As a contractor myself I have worked weekends and extended hours, taking another days off instead and not been paid any more for doing so. In fact my previous contract only paid day rates. I just had an informal agreement to on average 35 hours a week. I keep a log of my hours to make sure things even out.

My pay isn't as good as a train drivers either, not that I mind but I just add that in, in case anyone thought i was earning a lot of money. No I'm just a flexible worker. But it goes both ways. So if I need a day off at short notice, it is granted by the people I work for. It's a two way process.

I wouldn't be surprised if in many companies, unions reps were getting away with things because companies don't want issues whilst at the same time said companies were trying to introduce things stealthily. May not be the same department. It may be HR doing the stealth work and another department where the reps are getting away with it. In that respect one could say both sides are as bad as each other.

 

[HH]

Based on the new information then it does appear to be an RMT special. Probably based around the fact that they have managed to bully other companies into paying for peace they now feel they got less than they might have at SWT.

 

[nedchester]

The whole thing is about opportunistic greed from the unions.

They know that the country is looking for a trouble free Olympics and have seen a way of trying to blackmail TOCs into coughing up more money.

Those in the rail industry have had it good compared to many others. The public sector is on a pay freeze for effectively four years; imagine that happening in the rail industry? Also it's not as if they won't get paid for working late night trains is it?

 

[Sleepy]

evil: Another week goes by .......... and we hear b*gger all from RMT or company about Olympics - people are now starting to say they can stick their overtime, people do make plans so extra trains may not run !!

 

[Stigy]

My pay isn't as good as a train drivers either, not that I mind but I just add that in, in case anyone thought i was earning a lot of money. No I'm just a flexible worker. But it goes both ways. So if I need a day off at short notice, it is granted by the people I work for. It's a two way process.

I'm of that mindset too, trouble is, from experience, TOCs will happily put pressure on you to change shift/work overtime/bend over backwards for them, which I/we often do, yet when we'd like them to help us out, it's another story!

 

[BestWestern]

The whole thing is about opportunistic greed from the unions.

They know that the country is looking for a trouble free Olympics and have seen a way of trying to blackmail TOCs into coughing up more money.

Those in the rail industry have had it good compared to many others. The public sector is on a pay freeze for effectively four years; imagine that happening in the rail industry? Also it's not as if they won't get paid for working late night trains is it?

I wholeheartedly agree. And I say that as train crew myself.

This sort of nonsense will do nothing to help us in a few years if the job culls begin and we are campaigning for public support.

 

[Goldfish62]

SWT of course are in a tricky position. In order to counter the RMT's lies they have to admit in public that they are doing very, very little in the way of extra services for the Olympics.

 

[BestWestern]

Well, they will do what they can to run what they deem to be reasonably necessary presumably. No point in keeping in secret, it's all got to be pulicised anyway!

 

[ANorthernGuard]

I'm of that mindset too, trouble is, from experience, TOCs will happily put pressure on you to change shift/work overtime/bend over backwards for them, which I/we often do, yet when we'd like them to help us out, it's another story!

Exactly! its alright for TOC's to put pressure on its workers but when the shoe is on the other foot we are all greedy ungrateful etc etc (insert staff/union bashing word here) :roll:
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Northern are doing absolutely nothing extra for the Olympic football tournament, no extra trains or football specials. It will be chaos. and this time dear employer you only have yourself to blame when it all goes tits ip. (for the record Northern employees have NOT asked for any sort of extra payments regarding the olympics) however when it does hit the fan watch them beg for overtime and Rest Day Working at short notice and hope there is enough staff to help.

 

[swt_passenger]

SWT of course are in a tricky position. In order to counter the RMT's lies they have to admit in public that they are doing very, very little in the way of extra services for the Olympics.

That has been SWT's public stance for a good few years, so that shouldn't be a problem? All they ever offered originally out of Waterloo was a few existing services run a bit further down the route, for example the odd Waterloo - Southampton extended out to Bourenmouth or Poole in its usual timings. The effect is just to allow slightly later departures to further away, without affecting the last train times, which are pretty good as far as Southampton anyway.

Extra day time services to Weymouth were not originally planned either - and what there are now are basically strengthened trains rather than extras.

 

[Sleepy]

FGW have agreed a deal with RMT, clock ticking for Stageroach & Abellio !!! With G4S fuss DFT/ government will be rather unhappy if they end up with more negative Olympic Headlines IMO :(

 

[embers25]

The difference with SWT over all other operators is that SWT have already paid a bonus for the olympics as part of their last pay deal. However having conned other TOC's into paying more since the RMT have gotten greedy and are trying to get an additional bonus from SWT and that is why SWT are standing firm. Fingers crossed Souter stands firm. These payments are a joke already without giving more.

 

[30 common]

It's a no vote! A small margin but it's still a no.

 

[island]

EMT, on the other hand, has voted yes.

 

[Monty]

It's a no vote! A small margin but it's still a no.

Thank god for that!

 

[WatcherZero]

Exactly! its alright for TOC's to put pressure on its workers but when the shoe is on the other foot we are all greedy ungrateful etc etc (insert staff/union bashing word here) :roll:
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Northern are doing absolutely nothing extra for the Olympic football tournament, no extra trains or football specials. It will be chaos. and this time dear employer you only have yourself to blame when it all goes tits ip. (for the record Northern employees have NOT asked for any sort of extra payments regarding the olympics) however when it does hit the fan watch them beg for overtime and Rest Day Working at short notice and hope there is enough staff to help.

The Olympic football tournament with 1 million unsold tickets so their reducing stadium capacities by half and withdrawing 500,000 from sale?