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Post by Alex on Jul 30, 2023 22:13:49 GMT
Ahhh yes HSL, the Go Ahead London of the laboratory industry. Every couple of years work tends to be tendered out by certain trusts and in most cases, at least north of the river if its not internal NHS then you can bet HSL will be who wins it. What makes this interesting is out of all the private companies taking over, HSL is said to be the best by a huge mile. They're often investing in staff and Mhave quite good staff retention, always allowing people to move up the ladder and eventually reach consultancy or senior management. Sorry to bump this thread a bit, but not been on for a few days and wanted to acknowledge the post. Yes, a lab version of GAL seems a good analogy. My wife sees her days at North Mid very much as the glory days, then HSL got involved, shut the lab at NMUH and sent everyone to Royal Free. That was her low point, she sees 60WS as a vast improvement on RF. I had second thoughts about the rake story after I sent it, I was in a chatty mood and just writing down what was flowing at the time - I didn't want it to come across as that applying to any other BMS staff! Indeed I had to Google a rake on the phone and show her the picture. Thinking about the strikes being called off, it was a really good job they were. The Elizabeth line was completely totalled last week, it was a real mess. The timing of suspending the action worked out well there. Just hope nothing else goes wrong soon
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Post by Alex on Jul 21, 2023 22:33:27 GMT
I'd disagree, hours only makes up a small part of the equation. Embedding and cutting requires an immense level of skill and surgical precision that you need to develop skills over years for and constantly renew competence in order to be able to legally practice. The fact the job is 50K compared to the money a tube driver is earning is just ridiculous. The fact she, or any other BMS then requires a masters to progress further shows that skill is required here and justifies the higher salary. I know it’s a double quote but thanks for that as I can see it in the wife. I don’t know if this is a common thing but while she’s brainy at work she’s a proper s##t for brains at home. When recently sorting out our garden she didn’t know what a rake was or how a hose worked. But taking the BMS example, because of what I see I can relate to that. There’s also an example of pi## taking which she needs to watch out for. Sadly, her department was TUPEd into a company called HSL, but retaining NHS contracts. After years of working in North London hospitals she’s at a place known as 60WS (you might know where that is, nearest station Goodge Street). The gits held back the 5% rise and the £1400 that NHS were meant to have last year, and tried to do a deal whereby if HSL staff accepted a one off £500 they waived their old NHS conditions! It’s bloody unbelievable. These are university educated people yet some company tries to pull a cheap shot like that. I was appalled, apart from the Mickey take the staff have seen there’s obviously a culture of penny pinching over the right conditions and respect for staff. Needless to say his was kicked into touch by the workers. I know many don’t rate transport workers but the ones I know, and myself see all sorts of injustice and would like better for all. I’m lucky I’ve got my job and way of life but I truly recognise there’s many areas for improvement for all. I want to keep typing but need to seek solace YTing the Porridge film from 1979 which always levels me out : )
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Post by Alex on Jul 21, 2023 18:17:59 GMT
I'd disagree, hours only makes up a small part of the equation. Embedding and cutting requires an immense level of skill and surgical precision that you need to develop skills over years for and constantly renew competence in order to be able to legally practice. The fact the job is 50K compared to the money a tube driver is earning is just ridiculous. The fact she, or any other BMS then requires a masters to progress further shows that skill is required here and justifies the higher salary. To be fair (and I feel a bit bad digging out the BMS salary, but so many others have digged out railway jobs so I went down that route) I can see that. I’ve heard all about paraffin blocks, formulin and cut up/immuno, and my wife has taken this as her own profession and a way of being. She doesn’t know any different in her working life and doesn’t want to do anything else. She’s doing her bit towards a service as am I. I like doing a good job for people but I don’t like unreasonable employers…… ….which leads to developments today. Many of the issues are dropped for the time being, so I’m happy people power has worked (for now at least). It also gives a better arrangement next week for many people though I expect some bus enthusiasts to be a bit gutted that random types and routes aren’t running as there’s no strike - you can never win!!!! I get the health service are in a quandary, delaying or cancelling treatment for people is (to me) a lot more harmful than anyone in transport can do delaying people and maybe other areas need to support where support is needed. The issue next week is off the table now so hopefully people are happy. I don’t like arguments or bad feeling so hopefully it’s finished for a bit : )
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Post by Alex on Jul 20, 2023 23:41:28 GMT
It's useless hearing the opinion of people working on the railway regarding this matter as nobody is ever going to admit they're overpaid. The financial report which came about as a result of this government funding issue indicated that LUL staff were actually being paid below market rates, and that was across the board. I don’t think station staff in particular would agree they’re overpaid. As mentioned on this thread the issue isn’t just contained to railway staff, the tanker driver situation a while back being an indicator that people in all sorts of essential jobs - such as driving things - need a decent wage and conditions in order for the rest of the country to function. I hope one day anyone who's voted for strike action gets it back in their face, the way they've made innocent people suffer. I hope this extends to teachers, post office workers, nurses and the various other people who have taken industrial action recently. They’ve had the same struggles with belligerent management/directors in recent times so have had to take extreme action because people don’t listen. I spot in an earlier post you’re a Biomedical Scientist. Well, so is my wife. She graduated in 2003 so is at the top of band 6. She went part time when our first daughter was born but her full time equivalent, bearing in mind her Inner London HCA is over £50k with the 5% pay rise. That’s not counting the days she’s asked to start early for embedding, for which she gets a 1/3 enhancement for in the hours before her start time. She doesn’t finish beyond 4 o’clock and works weekdays only and gets all her bank holidays off. For those sort of sociable hours she thinks it’s good enough, when I asked her if she would do the sort of hours public transport workers do she replied that she wouldn’t for twice the money. So I know myself the health service comparison doesn’t hold water (people tend to use nurses as an example and look what they’ve done recently), my wife’s manager is a band 9 which is very hefty. Admittedly my wife didn’t see the difference between BMS and being a Senior as worth the effort of doing her masters for, so she stays where she is. I wouldn’t normally have submitted such a post but feel it prudent to provide some balance, and to state that a lot of health workers aren’t at loggerheads with transport workers - I know many of my wife’s work friends and we all understand each other! It’s people like railway workers who are in a good position to bargain and level things up for others, and if there was more fight in other industries the economical flow would be so much better in this country with the cascade (people earn more - can buy more from X business - X can buy more from Y etc - very Fisher Price type example but see where the little and often works for a greater number instead of big business having all of it). In the seventies someone with a normal job like working for the council or as a railway ticket office clerk could get a semi-detached house in Barkingside or Purley (made up examples but representative) with no problems and people could have a normal, comfortable life. What’s gone wrong now? Greed and self interest is where it is, with an unfeeling government and no empathy between each other. As others have said on this thread, divide and divide more. It really needs to stop.
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Post by Alex on Jul 13, 2023 15:57:30 GMT
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Post by Alex on Jul 11, 2023 21:08:42 GMT
Can you elaborate on some of the things you said like: Attendance at work policy Changes to driver rostering What is changing for staff working on the underground and rail I'm not anti train driver but I do think that our railways are in decline partly due to the issues of cutting station staff. However train drivers earn a considerable amount of money especially comparing to bus drivers, who I'd say has an easier job than driving a bus. Most professions don't pay £60k a year. Regarding the NHS it's been overwhelmed ever since Covid and even without the virus the situation is still bad. My mum works in the NHS, she works 12 hour days and sometimes nights. I know that train drivers also do shift patterns like starting at 5am and finishing at 1.30am. it's not the easiest job in the world. I’ll see if I can find some links for those as it’s a lot of writing (!) but agree cutting station staff is a bad idea, agree the NHS doesn’t get anywhere near the support it needs, and that 1% pay rise after the pandemic was an absolute Michael take. Bus driving shifts are worse than the hours you mention on the trains - the most extreme examples I can think of is the first 158 duty booking on at 02:45 when at WH and a PD night duty which booked on at 01:00 and finished at 10:00 with its second half as a rush hour daytime 53 (the first bit was two rounders on night 53). That sort of stuff really shouldn’t be allowed - the vast majority of people wouldn’t be able to function properly with those sort of hours. Freight train driving and some TOC work has some seriously weird hours too. As I’ve said before let whoever wants to go on strike go on strike and hopefully they’ll strike themselves out of a job. That would be quite a lot of people all over the place though, we’ve seen rail staff, bus drivers, nurses, teachers, postal workers, even Amazon workers all taking action recently…..
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Post by Alex on Jul 11, 2023 20:40:21 GMT
Hello there, my first post of the year - I usually just read bits and pieces on the forum but I’ll make an exception for this thread.
The strikes mentioned are not principally about pay or just the driver grade as some posts on here seem to indicate. There’s quite a few issues running in tandem which include pension changes, a proposed new attendance at work policy, changes to driver rostering & agreements and changes to station staff numbers and coverage. There are many other areas of complaint on multiple levels which add to the concerns people have presently.
Now, you could think that this is the nature of any business and sometimes things need to change - however - the organisation themselves have quite widely publicised that their post-pandemic recovery is much better than they thought, and they’re in a position to make a surplus at the end of this financial year. That’s a surplus on the current model which indicates there is enough money going around and begs the question of why anything actually needs to change?
What would the public see from these changes and corresponding saved money? Well, the organisation definitely won’t reduce fares so it’ll be a more expensive outlay for a worse service, with less station staff (there aren’t enough now) and a more unsafe environment on stations & trains. The proposed trains cover model is totally unworkable with the removal of any recovery margins/measures meaning that after any delays/incidents the train service will be decimated. A lot of the trains will be in depots because the required staff won’t be there, even normal everyday issues would see the potential for drastically reduced services.
What’s being proposed would completely ruin the lives of many staff, the flexible coverage model for trains that’s been drafted would cause so much stress and fatigue (akin to a model that was proposed and kicked out on British Rail way back in 1982 - if it wasn’t acceptable 40 years ago how can it be how?) and stations with increasing passenger numbers would have less staff. The train service disruption would have further knock on effects to stress levels for those in control rooms and of course create an even more volatile environment for station staff.
Things are not easy now with coverage so tight and with everything being turned upside down - including all agreements and recognised practices being put in the bin - this is causing much upset and the ballot returns have reflected this. When you add the proposed attendance procedure, where someone is classed as being long-term sick after just seven days (yes, that’s right - anything above a self cert) this would cause tremendous pressure and affect the health of many many people.
RMT is heavily involved with the ‘Enough is Enough’ campaign. I can imagine there are people out there who see other jobs having harsh conditions, hours, pay rates and workplace practices and wonder why rail workers should be different. The thing is they shouldn’t be and that’s what Enough is Enough is all about, and why the government didn’t want RMT to win the main line rail dispute and set a precedent for people everywhere to expect better. Enough is Enough have employed economists to carry out studies to prove what most people know anyway - that there is enough money in this country but it’s all in the wrong places. Models have shown that a redistribution exercise to benefit a far wider group of people is perfectly feasible and would be workable to implement. Industrial action such as discussed on this thread is representative of the mood over the whole country and I see a lot of support between people of different industries.
I have in-laws on the buses in London and my mother as well as my wife both work for the NHS, so I see the battles taking place and am constantly saddened at the conditions for many people. We’ve had a race-to-the-bottom culture for too long now due to corporate greed and a lot of people in this country have their eyes open to it now and agree there needs to be a change. I’d support anyone taking action in any industry right now as the ‘Broken Britain’ tag is very very true with many in horrible situations not of their own making. People everywhere really have had enough.
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Post by Alex on Sept 1, 2022 23:53:49 GMT
I wasn’t going to reply to this (I hardly post full stop) but automating the role of drivers even more isn’t going to stop strikes - in fact it makes disruption even more likely. Take the systems on the Jubilee, Northern and the central bit of the SSR for example. ATO trains but with a system with a centralised safety-critical set of computers controlling it, known as VCCs (Vehicle Control Centre/s). There’s a highly trained and responsible person who oversees these and any safety related procedures go through them to check the status of the computer. Signallers and controllers cannot carry out safety procedures without them. So - no computer operators (and this can be one or two people) = no trains. All the signallers, controllers, control room managers, everyone could be in the control room but without the computer techs there’s no service.
Also the most recent quote for implementing fully automatic operation would take at least 40 years worth of the Train Operator wage bill before it had even paid for itself, and that’s without taking other things into consideration. There really is no point in taking a hard and fast line on this while it’s better to follow the normal process for resignalling as each line needs it. The London system has many barriers as it’s so old. The most logical place for fully ATO operation is the central portion of the Elizabeth line - but the powers that be don’t seem to address this - to be fair it seems the situation and interest from government is there as a tool to wave a big stick at LUL.
With strikes and support, there is a growing current of people in all professions now questioning the way things are for working people with the realisation that redistribution within the economy (and an improvement in the lives for many) is very possible. There is a considerable movement for this and many organisations are taking action. The high profile campaign from RMT has provided the spark for many people in the UK to take action and see changes in this country to improve conditions for everyone. It is not impossible, or radical (as Bernie Sanders said at the TUC last night). The transport workers are the first step in making things better for working people everywhere and Mick Lynch & Eddie Dempsey are demolishing the media. Support for groups such as TUs has never been higher, due to the correlation of their aims coupled with a cost of living crisis and a very long established race to the bottom for many industries. The only winners are the rich as they get even richer with no actual benefit to communities and the mood going forward. There is the Enough Is Enough campaign at the moment which is gaining real momentum. So many people realise that this country is very broken at the moment yet this can be fixed with measures which aren’t even extraordinary or revolutionary.
It’s a bigger picture than buses and trains and really investing in working people and providing professional settings is the way to go, as long as the economic merry-go-round of money lets this happen (which it could) then give people everywhere a chance.
But definitely, the reason the government don’t want RMT to win the disputes on LUL and over NR/TOCs is because they are scared of the precedent being set and people everywhere being entitled to the same. It’s all about keeping the rich rich. This is a battle for all working people and the reason the Conservative candidates are touting law changes for strikes and action is because they know they’ve been found out. They know people like Mick Lynch and Eddie Dempsey are more clued than them, they know their game is up. They’re only being like this because they’re feeling threatened when they thought they’d always live the Teflon life.
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Post by Alex on Aug 2, 2022 10:34:56 GMT
So if it shows a target speed of 100 km/h then why would a driver that is not in ATO not go to that speed. Surely it must have been done. I have been on some trains between South Woodford and Woodford and at times, the train feels as though it is going faster than 50mph. So does the drivers speed display show in km/h instead of mph? Chancery Lane derailment - the 85kph was part of the fallout from that. Speeds on the Central and Waterloo & City lines are measured in KPH with the tunnel section maximum speed being 65kph as opposed to the higher speed in the open. The TBTC/CBTC systems are worked out in KPH which then converts back to MPH which gives some odd amounts on speed limits. For example one part of the Farringdon-Kings Cross westbound run has a section of 85kph which displays in the cab as 53mph, there’s various 50kph areas which display as 31mph. Agree about the east end District - the current speed is 45mph which is what the signalling sections are designed for. Higher speeds need longer sections and safety overlap margins so there would be less signals and less trains would be able to run - however I would agree with CBTC using the position of trains a bit more dynamically then in the right conditions there should be a bit of faster running. Fingers crossed!
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Post by Alex on Aug 2, 2022 10:01:13 GMT
is there any speed limit on the Underground network above 60mph? As DStock7080 says for the purposes of trains being operated and the speeds you can experience there isn’t. However, for trivia value there’s one speed limit oddity and one potential. The odd one is the highest speed sign on LUL is 70mph north of Amersham - but this applies to northbound/down Chiltern Railways trains on their way to Great Missenden. The sign is used as a marker by some Met drivers performing the shunt move via the northbound line from Amersham platform 1 to platform 2. The potential is 62.5 mph on outer sections of the Central line - the ATP target speed will display 100kph in quite a few areas but the maximum ATO speed is 85kph. However, if the train is being operated in Coded Manual the 100kph can be achieved (the maximum safe speed before the brakes will apply is around 103kph) - the rules are that in all cases the 85kph shouldn’t be exceeded. So in that case the system is capable of delivering a higher speed but it’s just there in the background - and a speed value higher than 60mph is displayed. There are discussions every now and again to get the 1992 stock back to 100kph as designed, probably been explored as part of the CLIP upgrade /DC motor replacement.
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Post by Alex on Dec 24, 2021 15:20:34 GMT
How can this thread go so far without mention of Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas”?! M1199 mentioned it earlier ; )
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Post by Alex on Dec 23, 2021 19:25:10 GMT
That the one about Boris Johnson? 😂 It could well be! The one that as I type is number 2 on Amazon…..
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Post by Alex on Dec 22, 2021 11:14:19 GMT
I’m not really a Christmas song person but the general feeling amongst people I know is that the best Christmas album is ‘A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector’. A load of stuff from The Ronettes, The Crystals etc which despite being around 60 years old is still catchy now. However this year the one I want for number 1 has a title I can’t repeat on the forum….
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Post by Alex on Dec 15, 2021 9:41:36 GMT
I’ve been watching a lot of Minder recently, brilliant series and what sets it miles apart from lots of others is the extensive use of location filming. A great view of London in better times.
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Post by Alex on Dec 1, 2021 3:09:20 GMT
I’ve read elsewhere about the speculation on service cuts - they’ve already started. We’ve recently had a Jubilee timetable using less trains and a less intense service on the northern part of the line, and a Bakerloo timetable with less trains and frequencies overall. The Circle & Hammersmith has a timetable now with two less trains in the peaks (through differing arrangements when Circle trains at Edgware Road terminate at these times). The relaunch of night tube uses resources in a much more economical way than was used before (and has led to the industrial dispute discussed here already).
The TfL report into funding (nobody saw the KPMG one) indicated major service cuts would not provide a great amount of savings due to the amount of fixed assets. Rolling stock is still there, and track and infrastructure still needs to be maintained. Using a simple analogy, if a piece of track has one train per hour or thirty trains per hour it still needs the same people and resources for the upkeep. Same goes for stock, even if not used much each unit still needs attention for periodic exams and maintenance. I would predict modest cuts on train service (like we’ve seen already) and alterations on station opening/closing hours (and associated staffing reductions) rather than an all out assault.
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