Signal operator strikes

[stevegrant]

Looks like Unite aren't the only union who can't operate a ballot correctly, according to the Independent:

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/network-rail-in-legal-bid-to-avert-strike-action-1932047.html

 

NR said the inaccuracies included 11 signal boxes balloted by the RMT that do not exist, with most having been closed for years; 67 locations where the numbers of RMT members balloted exceeded the total number of employees working there; 26 workplaces which were completely missed out, giving RMT members at these locations no opportunity to vote; and 12 locations where there were no operations staff at all, so workers were ineligible to vote.

 

The company said one of the signal boxes included in the RMT ballot had been burnt down by arsonists a year ago, and added that it had three employees at South Tottenham, where 11 members had been asked to vote, and 24 employees at Crewe, where the RMT invited 33 members to vote.

 

As a daily train user, I'll be more than a bit ****ed off if I can't get to and from work next week

[Bourno]

The Portsmouth News is reporting that Rail bosses are snubbing Portsmouth to ensure services run from Southampton. Southampton wil get one slow and one fast train to London every hour 7am-7pm. Whilst there will be no trains running from Portsmouth, Havant and Petersfield.

[so22saint]

****ing layabout arseholes

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

****ing layabout arseholes

 

Yeah, that's the reason they are striking I believe; laziness! Dear o dear.

 

Given my political views, you may find it odd that Bob Crowe isn't always to my liking, however I would rather have workers striking over safety concerns and commuters are disrupted, then no strike and another Hatfield/Potters Bar/Clapham rail crash happen

[CB Saint]

Yeah, that's the reason they are striking I believe; laziness! Dear o dear.

 

Given my political views, you may find it odd that Bob Crowe isn't always to my liking, however I would rather have workers striking over safety concerns and commuters are disrupted, then no strike and another Hatfield/Potters Bar/Clapham rail crash happen

 

It wouldn't surprise me if the RMT were using safety as a smoke screen. These days we have some pretty viscious corporate manslaughter laws. Company execs can face jail time if they are found to be negligent. I cannot see anyone at Network Rail taking risks with safety these days.

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

It wouldn't surprise me if the RMT were using safety as a smoke screen. These days we have some pretty viscious corporate manslaughter laws. Company execs can face jail time if they are found to be negligent. I cannot see anyone at Network Rail taking risks with safety these days.

 

I wouldn't say it would 'suprise' me if that is the case, but it's all rather cynical isn't it? I'm evidently far too idealistic in my views

[so22saint]

Yeah, that's the reason they are striking I believe; laziness! Dear o dear.

 

Given my political views, you may find it odd that Bob Crowe isn't always to my liking, however I would rather have workers striking over safety concerns and commuters are disrupted, then no strike and another Hatfield/Potters Bar/Clapham rail crash happen

 

I'll be honest with you mate - the reason I'm annoyed is that it means I can't get to see Frankie Boyle in Reading on Wednesday night without driving, and I've then got to drive into Camden for a meeting on Thursday morning.

 

Thing about unions is, in my 37 years of experience, is that they do tend to strike during the school holidays I've noticed....

[Johnny Bognor]

It wouldn't surprise me if the RMT were using safety as a smoke screen. These days we have some pretty viscious corporate manslaughter laws. Company execs can face jail time if they are found to be negligent. I cannot see anyone at Network Rail taking risks with safety these days.

 

Of coursethey go on about safety, in order to legitamise the strike. I didn't see them come out on strike after Hatfield/Potters Bar/Clapham following safety issues. Why the sudden concern over safety now?

 

As it happens, the Potters Bar crash was down to poor maintenance by the railway workers......where was the union then?

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

I'll be honest with you mate - the reason I'm annoyed is that it means I can't get to see Frankie Boyle in Reading on Wednesday night without driving, and I've then got to drive into Camden for a meeting on Thursday morning.

 

Thing about unions is, in my 37 years of experience, is that they do tend to strike during the school holidays I've noticed....

 

I will admit, it does seem like that to me, it may be scant comfort to those parents who were planning a trip away over the Easter break but at least the strike isn't over the bank holiday weeked (even though at my end, they are doing rail work between Colchester and London anyway over this weekend!!)

[Gemmel]

Let me share my favorite “union” story that happens to be…..a tube driver.

The tube driver was on long term sick with a bad back and showed no signs of returning to work. Transport for London weren’t convinced this was all cosha, so decided to use an agency to investigate.

Having been filmed, living what looked an active life, they followed the driver (Who was still off sick) to the sports centre, where they filmed him again, playing squash. (Few other sports would put as much pressure on the back)

To cut a long story short, he was called in to a disciplinary and subsequently fired. The union was up in arms and took their brother under their wing, to fight such a travesty of justice.

They challenged the dismissal and won……

They successfully argued that the squash court was a hard floor and that in the event of a tube break down or emergency, if the said driver had to walk his passengers out, some of this passage would be on shingle, which unlike a squash court is an uneven surface and that would affect his back, but the level floor of a squash court wouldn’t. He was re-instated and immediately put back on sick leave…….I don’t know if that is the end of the story, if he is still there or still off sick…..but unions, don’t you just love them :confused::confused:

[Hatch]

 

Thing about unions is, in my 37 years of experience, is that they do tend to strike during the school holidays I've noticed....

 

Just wait until the World Cup starts, the RMT will be out on strike at a drop of a hat, all coincidently on dates that England will be playing.

[dune]

Open letter from Iain Coucher 29 March

29 March 2010

 

From Iain Coucher, Chief Executive:

 

Network Rail has been advised by the RMT union that it will be calling its members out on strike between Tuesday 6 April and Friday 9 April.

 

I am very aware of the effect that this will have on you, and I am doing all I can to negotiate an end to the disputes to avoid a strike.

 

If there is a strike, some trains will run: many of our people will want to work as normal. The way in which this strike has been called – targeting morning and evening services – is designed to maximise the impact on passengers, and so I regret that on many lines, there will be considerable disruption to

your journey. I apologise for that.

 

I want to explain the two entirely separate disputes which the RMT has coordinated to cause you the most difficulty on your daily journeys.

 

The RMT claims that this is about the safety of passengers and rail workers. It is not. We do not negotiate on safety – it is at the heart of everything we do, and we will accept no compromises. The Office of Rail Regulation has now confirmed that it is satisfied with the proposed changes.

 

Our signallers are seeking reassurance that in the event of future changes to how we work, they will be treated fairly. We have told them we do not plan to change any of the long-standing agreements which provide exactly that protection.

 

In addition, we have presented plans to modernise our maintenance work. They have been rejected by the unions – so we want to work with them to find a compromise.

 

For both disputes, Network Rail has worked very hard indeed to make reasonable and worthwhile offers to the unions so we can negotiate an end to their disputes.

 

I don’t believe any of those offers have been considered seriously by the unions’ leaders during our many discussions, which also involved ACAS for two days last week… or they wouldn’t have called a national rail strike.

 

We will keep trying to help the unions and their members understand our offers to avoid strikes: but they must want to negotiate, and not just make empty gestures about talking.

 

Iain Coucher

[stevegrant]

The revised timetable for next week is relatively unhelpful but could have been worse, I guess.

 

7.05 train in the morning instead of 7.00, with a couple of extra stops, but then the last train out of Waterloo is 5.32, and it'll be absolutely rammed. Just as well the schools are off, so quite a lot of people will have taken time off next week anyway.

[SNSUN]

Just wait until the World Cup starts, the RMT will be out on strike at a drop of a hat, all coincidently on dates that England will be playing.

 

I'm not striking anymore, they've stopped overtime now as LUL can't afford it, so the old scam that some employees used to do (go on strike but make the days pay back in overtime later in the year) can't be done.

 

The next RMT strike on LUL will probably be about job security and the closure of ticket offices, although where I work in the booking office at Heathrow is ok, we've been told that it's the safest booking office in terms of being shut down as we get all the tourists first hand.

 

Strikes don't always work anyway - the RMT wanted a par rise for us last year and balloted the members, but the RMT backed down and accepted what LUL was offering (for a change.) Turns out the next pay rise is bigger than what the RMT wanted because of inflation. While I'm a member, I do get sick with using strike action all the time. I do my utmost to give good customer service and give customers a better day, not just tourists but to make commuters proud to use the Tube, but it's all a waste when the strikes occur and staff are tarnished with the same brush.

 

I might join TSSA anyway, they're a union just as good as the RMT but without the militant leader.

 

 

Incidentally about the Network Rail strikes next week, my missus is knackered as she commutes from our house in Egham to Twickenham where she works, and will have no way to get in - they're running one train an hour (which will be packed), and they don't start until after she needs to be at work and finish before she needs to come home. So I'm dreadingly lending her my car for the week, and borrowing my sister's sh1tty Micra.

[Viking Warrior]

Gemmel

 

They successfully argued that the squash court was a hard floor and that in the event of a tube break down or emergency, if the said driver had to walk his passengers out, some of this passage would be on shingle, which unlike a squash court is an uneven surface and that would affect his back, but the level floor of a squash court wouldn’t. He was re-instated and immediately put back on sick leave…….I don’t know if that is the end of the story, if he is still there or still off sick…..but unions, don’t you just love them

 

I suspect the people who heard the appeal were a bunch of weak managers

and lost the bottle to uphold the dismissal.

 

maybe it was cheaper for them to reinstate him than face the anger of the unions and potential industrial unrest

[Joensuu]

(Sort of off topic, but...) Speaking to a friend who works for the RMT and is coordinating this ballot: http://www.thelondondailynews.com/london-underground-disruptions-worsen-with-strike-ballots-p-3964.html

 

I was teasing him, saying he was personally responsible for commuter misery, and that keeping unrequired staff was causing fares to rise. He said that the real reason for this tube stike is that Transport for London want to slash staff numbers by a huge amount, to the extent that (excluding cleaners and people selling tickets) the whole of Victoria tube station would only only be manned by two staff. To me the minimum required would be 7-10 staff (with at least 2-3 manning the ticket gates (& who can shut down exits in emergencies), and at least 1 per platform (of which Victoria has 4)). If that's true, and TFL are intending to reduce staff manning Victoria underground to just 2 I can't see how the station can run safely.

 

I suggested that to get the public onside, the RMT should offer small staff pay cuts in return for keeping the numbers required to operate the system safely. He could see what I mean't but I don't think he liked that idea too much...

[Gravesend Saint]

Strikes off

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8598456.stm

[stevegrant]

Excellent

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

The Thatcherites on here will be dancing in the streets tonight

[Gemmel]

The Thatcherites on here will be dancing in the streets tonight

 

Indeed. between the RMT and Unite they have called 3 strikes in as many months. One was illegal, the other went ahead, but a reasonable service was maintained as many crossed the picket line to work as normal and this one has been averted. The days of the bully unions are coming to an end.

[Yeovil Saint]

Looks like Unite aren't the only union who can't operate a ballot correctly, according to the Independent:

 

Steve, the problem is that it's almost impossible to run a ballot completely correctly and if any discrepency results in an injunction then it will be almost impossible to hold a strike ballot making strike action effectively illegal.

 

There's three main rules for holding an industrial action ballot.

 

1) The union(s) concerned must only ballot their members.

2) All members who would be in the workplace/function going on strike must be balloted.

3) No members who are not in the workplace/function going on strike can be balloted.

 

Sounds easy enough, and (1) is. But the information needed for (2) and (3) aren't held by the union, that information is held by the employer and it's tough for the unions to get that information. People do move jobs within an organisation, maybe moving into the scope of strike action, maybe moving out of that scope. People sometimes leave an employer, but their direct debits are still coming in and so the union thinks that person is still employed in that workplace. That's because the employer doesn't in many cases give lists of leavers to the union so the union can remove leavers from their membership lists.

 

It seems unfair that employers can withhold the information that unions need to conduct a lawful ballot and then take the union to court for not holding a lawful ballot.

[Sylvia Saint]

The Thatcherites on here will be dancing in the streets tonight

 

 

Thatcherites? That was 30 years ago. Give it a bloody rest and start living in todays world. This Labour government has been in power for the last 13 years and has has presided over one of the worst recessions ever, the ordinary man in the street is having to tighten his belt more than ever with high taxes and living costs and you still harp on about Thatcher! Get Real FFS.

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

Thatcherites? That was 30 years ago. Give it a bloody rest and start living in todays world. This Labour government has been in power for the last 13 years and has has presided over one of the worst recessions ever, the ordinary man in the street is having to tighten his belt more than ever with high taxes and living costs and you still harp on about Thatcher! Get Real FFS.

 

You obviously did not take that comment in the way it was intended, please calm yourself down you innernet warrior