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Post by southlondon413 on May 1, 2023 10:38:04 GMT
One valid question being asked is why the RMT consistently refuses to put the offer on the table to its membership. Many other disputes have been settled in recent months by this means; workers have actually been willing to accept what the unions perhaps felt was not quite the best offer. Even the members are asking for a vote. Without wishing to stray into muddy political waters I leave you to make up your own minds about the reasoning behind this stance. There should be laws that make it a requirement to put offers to members. It wouldn’t mean that union leadership couldn’t urge members to vote it down but it would mean those who just want a deal or have families to feed can actually get a reasonable offer. Fundamentally I believe in the right to strike but at some point losing out of days or weeks of pay just make no sense.
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Post by northlondon83 on May 1, 2023 14:04:41 GMT
The rail unions are turning this country into an international laughing stock. Aslef held a strike during the Commonwealth Games, and will again on the eve of the Eurovision Song Contest. Then RMT will hold a strike on Eurovision Day itself. They're also striking on the day of the FA cup final! And there's two Manchester teams in the final, though they do say that most Manchester United fans live within the M25, so not too far to travel I do feel like they're deliberately striking on the days where its most inconvenient for people. I remember my first train journey of 2023 was from New Eltham to London Bridge on 2 January. Now that was a bank holiday however I knew that in that week there would be several rail strikes. Indeed I planned to go back to New Eltham the day after, and whilst trains were running through the station, most Southeastern branches had no services on 3 January which was also the first working day after Christmas. I was travelling in the AM peak when there would normally be several trains running however I gave up at Lewisham and took a bus instead, as there were no trains for like 30 minutes (ie I arrived at Lewisham before the first train of the day).
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Post by greenboy on May 1, 2023 14:13:25 GMT
The rail unions are turning this country into an international laughing stock. Aslef held a strike during the Commonwealth Games, and will again on the eve of the Eurovision Song Contest. Then RMT will hold a strike on Eurovision Day itself. They're also striking on the day of the FA cup final! And there's two Manchester teams in the final, though they do say that most Manchester United fans live within the M25, so not too far to travel I do feel like they're deliberately striking on the days where its most inconvenient for people. I remember my first train journey of 2023 was from New Eltham to London Bridge on 2 January. Now that was a bank holiday however I knew that in that week there would be several rail strikes. Indeed I planned to go back to New Eltham the day after, and whilst trains were running through the station, most Southeastern branches had no services on 3 January which was also the first working day after Christmas. I was travelling in the AM peak when there would normally be several trains running however I gave up at Lewisham and took a bus instead, as there were no trains for like 30 minutes (ie I arrived at Lewisham before the first train of the day). Monday to Friday train strikes don't have the effect that they once did so they're trying to disrupt leisure activities instead.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 1, 2023 14:21:50 GMT
One valid question being asked is why the RMT consistently refuses to put the offer on the table to its membership. Many other disputes have been settled in recent months by this means; workers have actually been willing to accept what the unions perhaps felt was not quite the best offer. Even the members are asking for a vote. Without wishing to stray into muddy political waters I leave you to make up your own minds about the reasoning behind this stance. The result of the re-ballot for the next 6 months is due on Thursday. Maybe the RMT leadership are declaring a final strike while they still have a mandate?
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Post by gwiwer on May 1, 2023 19:37:04 GMT
One valid question being asked is why the RMT consistently refuses to put the offer on the table to its membership. Many other disputes have been settled in recent months by this means; workers have actually been willing to accept what the unions perhaps felt was not quite the best offer. Even the members are asking for a vote. Without wishing to stray into muddy political waters I leave you to make up your own minds about the reasoning behind this stance. There should be laws that make it a requirement to put offers to members. It wouldn’t mean that union leadership couldn’t urge members to vote it down but it would mean those who just want a deal or have families to feed can actually get a reasonable offer. Fundamentally I believe in the right to strike but at some point losing out of days or weeks of pay just make no sense. This may be a part of the Government's intentions. Seen as "union-busting" by some but more a case of being able to see democracy in action rather than a single official, or a small executive, holding the nation to ransom. Obviously there would be a split in the vote because some will always hold out for more, some will settle for what's on the table (which doesn't stop them coming back and asking for more) and some will not even bother to vote. In the current UK system the greatest number wins in a first-past-the-post contest. You can't really operate a transferable vote system when the options are simply "for" or "against".
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Post by T.R. on Jun 22, 2023 14:42:51 GMT
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Post by gwiwer on Jun 28, 2023 21:28:03 GMT
And with an ASLEF overtime ban all next week which will cause differing levels of disruption across the TOCs. Southern for example are reverting to almost their strike service plan with just a few extra routes open and hourly or half-hourly (at best) services where any run at all. SWR are offering a near-normal service on many routes with some peak cancellations and a reduction from half-hourly to hourly off-peak on some suburban lines.
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Post by joefrombow on Jun 30, 2023 11:43:29 GMT
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Post by greenboy on Jun 30, 2023 11:50:30 GMT
This is what has been proposed for a long time now and do you think it would be any different under any other government? It's much the same as what's happened on the tube, there just is no need for ticket offices anymore at many locations. It would be far more helpful to have staff on hand to assist people with ticket machines.
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Post by galwhv69 on Jul 3, 2023 15:38:41 GMT
An example of why staff and ticket offices are needed. Was working at Woking a few days ago and was approached by 2 young people (without 2 cards ao couldn't PAYG from Wimbledon) who were confused about what ticket they needed to buy. They needed to use the trams, and cheapest tickets machine would sell cost £22 in total. Took them to the ticket office, who were quickly able to issue Tramlink tickets for £11.40 total, so saving them around 50% just by going to the ticket office. But obviously the government don't want people travelling for decent prices
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Post by greenboy on Jul 3, 2023 21:16:45 GMT
An example of why staff and ticket offices are needed. Was working at Woking a few days ago and was approached by 2 young people (without 2 cards ao couldn't PAYG from Wimbledon) who were confused about what ticket they needed to buy. They needed to use the trams, and cheapest tickets machine would sell cost £22 in total. Took them to the ticket office, who were quickly able to issue Tramlink tickets for £11.40 total, so saving them around 50% just by going to the ticket office. But obviously the government don't want people travelling for decent prices With only around one in eight tickets purchased from a ticket office nowadays the thinking seems to be that staff would be better deployed assisting passengers using ticket machines and I don't see that being any different under any other government.
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Post by matthieu1221 on Jul 5, 2023 11:02:17 GMT
I'd say it's a ploy to easily get rid of staff entirely later on. Easier to justify cutting staff who are only 'helping' passengers use the ticket machines rather than straight up providing the full ticketing experience.
Otherwise, if staff are still going to be retained, why not have them in a ticket office? They can still assist passengers who need help with the machines whilst providing services with can't be done via the machine on the off chance they are needed.
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Jul 5, 2023 11:13:38 GMT
I'd say it's a ploy to easily get rid of staff entirely later on. Easier to justify cutting staff who are only 'helping' passengers use the ticket machines rather than straight up providing the full ticketing experience. Otherwise, if staff are still going to be retained, why not have them in a ticket office? They can still assist passengers who need help with the machines whilst providing services with can't be done via the machine on the off chance they are needed. Presumably because you get more worth out of them with the staff not sat in a ticket office and out and about helping people on the main concourse.
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Post by greenboy on Jul 5, 2023 11:21:40 GMT
I'd say it's a ploy to easily get rid of staff entirely later on. Easier to justify cutting staff who are only 'helping' passengers use the ticket machines rather than straight up providing the full ticketing experience. Otherwise, if staff are still going to be retained, why not have them in a ticket office? They can still assist passengers who need help with the machines whilst providing services with can't be done via the machine on the off chance they are needed. What exactly are staff in ticket offices going to do? It's the same as what's happened on the tube, the world has moved on and very few passengers use ticket offices anymore.
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Post by southlondon413 on Jul 5, 2023 17:04:35 GMT
I'd say it's a ploy to easily get rid of staff entirely later on. Easier to justify cutting staff who are only 'helping' passengers use the ticket machines rather than straight up providing the full ticketing experience. Otherwise, if staff are still going to be retained, why not have them in a ticket office? They can still assist passengers who need help with the machines whilst providing services with can't be done via the machine on the off chance they are needed. Presumably because you get more worth out of them with the staff not sat in a ticket office and out and about helping people on the main concourse. Why don’t they just equip staff on concourses with the same mobile ticket printers that inspectors have? They could then print and take card payments from people at the gate line or as part of their assistance. Out of the ticket office assisting passengers.
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