Do you support the RMT?

[halfmist]

I'm not sure it will come to that because after reading that tweet you posted, it sounds like Habib is blaming the government for this and may actually be in Lynch's corner on QT tonight!

Shhhhh. that would make good tele, arguing with someone who agrees with you

 

[halfmist]

No, I don't believe they would go along with that by choice, but getting angry and upset with those that are starting to refuse being treated like shit and doing something about it after 12 years of piss taking is missing the point.

Maybe they should start looking after themselves, and not meekly lying down and accepting whatever is being offered to them, which is probably their position.

If calling him a fool upsets you, then so be it, but it has been a bloody struggle over decades for us to enjoy such simple things like paid holidays, free healthcare, maternity leave, and all the other benefits we take for granted, every single one of which has been introduced by Labour or Liberal governments, and always opposed by tory politicians.

That's what I meant by 'more fool you'.

It is socialism that has given us everything we take for granted, and a kneejerk reaction from a government that has no plan, no forward thinking, and hasn't the collective brains to look after the ordinary person but will happily accept Russian money into their coffers, doesn't represent anyone struggling with the cost of living crises, and someone not recieving a pay rise for 5 years ought to be giving their head a wobble and asking themselves why?

Principles don’t pay bills as the saying goes.
If they work in the private sector and the company is struggling to stay afloat there isn’t the cushion of public subsidies to pay the wages.
The decision is often down to a job or the dole and it’s not a difficult decision to accept a pay freeze when there are bills to pay and mouths to feed.
Idealist theories on how the world should work don’t come in to play when one is faced with stark choices.

 

[M18CTID]

I'm thinking, with the expected summer of discontent, it's the start of a 'Great Awakening'.

We have had 12 years of tory rule, everything is turning to absolute shit under their watch, and it's about bloody time people woke up and said 'no more'.

I'm flabbergasted when I see comments along the lines of 'I've not had a pay rise for 5 years, and those greedy rail workers want an 11% rise' or whatever their perception of the dispute is.

Well, more fool you for not receiving a pay rise for 5 years, and thakfully some are resisting that aploplectic attitude and doing something about it.

This country has been asleep for too long, too accepting of zero hours contracts, too accepting of foodbanks, too accepting of heat or eat, too accepting of child poverty, too accepting of pensioners freezing to death, too accepting of shit being piled on us from all angles while the goverment and their friends line their pockets with billions of taxpayers money.

Hopefully, this is the start of redressing the imbalance of the most iniquitious society in Europe, and people start receiving a fair days pay for a fair days work and can live a reasonable life in what we are constantly being told, is one of the richest countries on Earth.

Of course I support the RMT.

Can't disagree with a lot of what you've said but regarding the bolded bit, you need to understand that a lot of workers don't have access to the leverage that the RMT or other unions have. It's great that the RMT can organise themselves in such a way and Mike Lynch is doing a cracking job in telling it like it is and tearing all these dickhead politicians/presenters/pundits to shreds.

However, many of us in the private sector would never get away with going on strike in a million years. The company I work for has less than 10 employees. If we decided to strike over pay and conditions, our customers would all just fuck off elsewhere to another supplier as we would no longer be able to offer a service and that would inevitably lead to us going out of business. As it happens, it's a great place to work at but our pay rise this year has been on the low side as we're trying to build the business back up to where it was pre-Covid.

 

[threespires]

ML: Right.
KH: Wrong.

Sorry am being thick, KH?

 

[halfmist]

Can't disagree with a lot of what you've said but regarding the bolded bit, you need to understand that a lot of workers don't have access to the leverage that the RMT or other unions have. It's great that the RMT can organise themselves in such a way and Mike Lynch is doing a cracking job in telling it like it is and tearing all these dickhead politicians/presenters/pundits to shreds.

However, many of us in the private sector would never get away with going on strike in a million years. The company I work for has less than 10 employees. If we decided to strike over pay and conditions, our customers would all just fuck off elsewhere to another supplier as we would no longer be able to offer a service and that would inevitably lead to us going out of business. As it happens, it's a great place to work at but our pay rise this year has been on the low side as we're trying to build the business back up to where it was pre-Covid.

That my friend is the real world that most of us have to live in.
Judging by the majority of comments on this thread one can only conclude that they live in an environment they are irreplaceable, are protected by a strong union, work in a monopoly company, ex nationalised industry or the Public Sector and hence not subject to the same realities.

 

[bluethrunthru]

If they work in the private sector and the company is struggling to stay afloat there isn’t the cushion of public subsidies to pay the wages.

Banks in 2009 and private train companies who just hand the franchise back to the Govt who has to run the service are just two examples of why that is untrue - there will be other examples but its too early and I can't be arsed researching more

 

[East Level 2]

So at the moment next week should be normal service on the railways - except the Tory government is actually proposing that the TOCs have a policy that would have the same effect as if the union had balloted its members for action short of a strike...

Surely the Tories are not that stupid.

They can be that stupid, and can get away with it provided voters, and those inconvenienced by the strike, are not aware that the TOCs need OT and rest day working to fulfil the timetable. The media won't tell them as they also seem ignorant of the facts.

 

[meltonblue]

Can't disagree with a lot of what you've said but regarding the bolded bit, you need to understand that a lot of workers don't have access to the leverage that the RMT or other unions have. It's great that the RMT can organise themselves in such a way and Mike Lynch is doing a cracking job in telling it like it is and tearing all these dickhead politicians/presenters/pundits to shreds.

However, many of us in the private sector would never get away with going on strike in a million years. The company I work for has less than 10 employees. If we decided to strike over pay and conditions, our customers would all just fuck off elsewhere to another supplier as we would no longer be able to offer a service and that would inevitably lead to us going out of business. As it happens, it's a great place to work at but our pay rise this year has been on the low side as we're trying to build the business back up to where it was pre-Covid.

A strong public sector with a well paid workforce is a very good thing for those working in the private sector too.

 

[halfmist]

Banks in 2009 and private train companies who just hand the franchise back to the Govt who has to run the service are just two examples of why that is untrue - there will be other examples but its too early and I can't be arsed researching more

I can’t recall banks handing any franchises back as they were never franchised in the first place
They had a reality check and literally shed hundreds of thousands of jobs to cope with life in the real world.
Try telling the millions of other workers who work for small and large firms in the private sector that my statement is untrue.
But just one question involving basic maths
Would the RMT be on such high wages without public subsidies.
Relying on ticket sales alone the costs would be unaffordable so where would the money come from to pay for them

 

[M18CTID]

A strong public sector with a well paid workforce is a very good thing for those working in the private sector too.

But that doesn't alter what I said about strike action basically being an impossible option for many private sector workers.