Do you support ASLEF (train drivers union) strikes?

The RMT yes, ASLEF less so. It’s purely about pay and not safety, the article infers a 14% increase which is a lot when you look at drivers pay. Most businesses have taken the approach of big pay rises for poorly paid staff with small rises for high paid. So if the call was for a graduated pay settlement then yes I would support but someone on £60k will not feel the impact of inflation anywhere near as much as someone on £30k.
I understand that a figure of around 5-6% has been offered in Wales/Scotland which seems reasonable considering the recent increase in rail fares.
 
I am in Aslef as I am a driver. I choose, reluctantly, to withold my labour in protest of the fact that I have not had a pay rise for over three years.

I lose income every day I strike. Contrary to popular (mis)conception, I and my fellow strikers receive no financial recompense from the Union.

I don't want to turn down earning my wages, especially at this time, but I feel that this is the only effective way to register my discontent with my employer. If I go to work, it says I'm happy to be shat upon.

Yes, some train drivers do earn more than drivers in some other countries. We should be proud that we are regarded so highly by the UK. Oops. It seems we aren't any longer. We are now lazy, greedy parasites.

Key workers applauded one minute and despised for asking for a payrise the next.
 
The train companies might have an argument if they'd made any effort in the last 25 years to keep the price of tickets down for passengers. But as it is, you can't increase ticket prices every year and then claim that you can't afford a wage increase for your staff.

For me there are two questions. Firstly, what's a reasonable annual wage increase? And secondly, when a group of employees has been refused a wage increase for several years, should offers reflect that fact?

You're getting a lot of these seemingly unreasonable wage demands from groups that have been given no or well-below inflation pay rises for years. Is a 10% pay rise unreasonable if you've gone 3 years without anything? It's basically the same as just over 3% a year. Is that an unreasonable pay rise, given that train fares have gone up by about 3% per year in that time?

As I understand it, the train drivers haven't received a pay rise for 3 years. So 14% is basically the same as 4.5% a year for the past 3 years, which as an opening offer, doesn't seem particularly unreasonable to me.
 
If they are already in the 40% tax bracket then maybe a shrewd move from the govt that would not be as inflationary as a 10%+ pay rise would be to move the 40% tax threshold from 50k to 55k? Not just a train driver solution btw, but a solution to the pay demands of many higher earners.
 
Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese said:
If they are already in the 40% tax bracket then maybe a shrewd move from the govt that would not be as inflationary as a 10%+ pay rise would be to move the 40% tax threshold from 50k to 55k? Not just a train driver solution btw, but a solution to the pay demands of many higher earners.
Click to expand...
They are doing the opposite. They are keeping the 50k level for the next few years so anyone currently on between 45 and 50k will find themselves being higher rate tax payers when they get pay rises.
 
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