Do you support the RMT?

[bluethrunthru]

I think there's some truth in that. The Tories I socialise with have a very nostalgic view of how the railway should run.

I presume its a view of the Flying Scotsman, firemen on the footplate, eggs and bacon cooked on a shovel and an actual dining car with plates knives and forks?

 

[halfmist]

I have not read all 277 pages of this thread.
Depending on what you read,the average salary seems to be about £50k per year.
Having seen inside a loco cab there is vey little for the driver to do with safety features covering most aspects.
A bus driver has a lot more to do, including dealing with passengers, pedestrians and other road vehicles yet only earn about 2/3 of a train drivers salary.
In fact running my 12 station, 4 line model railway requires a higher concentration level when I operate it on my own.
The amount of applicants for each driver training position suggests the pay is a lot higher than it would be for a like for like skill in another occupation.
So perhaps yes, the Union is the drivers best friend, but as member of Joe Public I don’t support the RMT and feel their stance is damaging the Industry.
I no longer rely on travelling by rail if I am required to make plans more than two weeks ahead and I am sure many others do the same.
In fact I now use the railways very little as they are unreliable and expensive.
Just a layman’s interpretation and I am the first to admit, I don’t know all the ins and outs of the dispute and the rights and wrongs that some on here clearly do.

 

[TinFoilHat]

I presume its a view of the Flying Scotsman, firemen on the footplate, eggs and bacon cooked on a shovel and an actual dining car with plates knives and forks?

Yes.

Along with Bernard Cribbins as a station master and the more discerning ones dreaming of Jenny Agutter waving her knickers.

 

[Stephen230]

I have not read all 277 pages of this thread.
Depending on what you read,the average salary seems to be about £50k per year.
Having seen inside a loco cab there is vey little for the driver to do with safety features covering most aspects.
A bus driver has a lot more to do, including dealing with passengers, pedestrians and other road vehicles yet only earn about 2/3 of a train drivers salary.
In fact running my 12 station, 4 line model railway requires a higher concentration level when I operate it on my own.
The amount of applicants for each driver training position suggests the pay is a lot higher than it would be for a like for like skill in another occupation.
So perhaps yes, the Union is the drivers best friend, but as member of Joe Public I don’t support the RMT and feel their stance is damaging the Industry.
I no longer rely on travelling by rail if I am required to make plans more than two weeks ahead and I am sure many others do the same.
In fact I now use the railways very little as they are unreliable and expensive.
Just a layman’s interpretation and I am the first to admit, I don’t know all the ins and outs of the dispute and the rights and wrongs that some on here clearly do.

Train drivers wages are what they are as a direct result of privatisation. Under BR they were average at best. The time and cost it takes to train a driver led to some companies realising that they could save money long term by offering higher wages and poaching fully trained drivers from companies paying less. This led to a domino effect, where everyone was forced to up their pay or face a never ending cycle of training drivers at great expense and then see them leave as soon as the period they were contractually obliged to stay had expired.

Also train drivers have absolutely nothing to do with the current RMT dispute. The vast majority of rail staff who’s jobs are currently under threat are earning mid 20s K.

 

[Zubrman]

"A bus driver has a lot more to do, including dealing with passengers, pedestrians and other road vehicles yet only earn about 2/3 of a train drivers salary."

A bus driver rarely gets to go over 20 mph and carries at most around 70 passengers.

A train driver has to negotiate taking a train carrying up to 1,500 people on it from speeds of 125 mph to stop smoothly and accurately at the right place for each different station over the network they sign.

Slightly different gravy from operating an HO - OO Hornby set in one's attic.

 

[Stephen230]

"A bus driver has a lot more to do, including dealing with passengers, pedestrians and other road vehicles yet only earn about 2/3 of a train drivers salary."

A bus driver rarely gets to go over 20 mph and carries at most around 70 passengers.

A train driver has to negotiate taking a train carrying up to 1,500 people on it from speeds of 125 mph to stop smoothly and accurately at the right place for each different station over the network they sign.

Slightly different gravy from operating an HO - OO Hornby set in one's attic.

A pilot should definitely be on less than a bus driver aswell. All those lazy cunts do is stick it on auto drive and get the “secondman” to step in when they can’t be arsed.

 

[halfmist]

"A bus driver has a lot more to do, including dealing with passengers, pedestrians and other road vehicles yet only earn about 2/3 of a train drivers salary."

A bus driver rarely gets to go over 20 mph and carries at most around 70 passengers.

A train driver has to negotiate taking a train carrying up to 1,500 people on it from speeds of 125 mph to stop smoothly and accurately at the right place for each different station over the network they sign.

Slightly different gravy from operating an HO - OO Hornby set in one's attic.

Not quite sure stopping smoothly and accurately is anything special, you even need to do that in a car to avoid a shunt.
The train steers itself, the internal alarm warns of the signal status, the dead man’s handle will stop the train so I would have thought the hardest thing to cope within on a train is boredom.
You obviously don’t have a train set.
I have to operate , the trains, beware of derailments, operate the signals and junctions and avoid other trains being on the same track whilst the trains are in motion, all simultaneously, none of these are the responsibility of the train driver on the real thing
Oh and I am none unionised, so my trains are more reliable and run on time.

 

[johnnytapia]

Not quite sure stopping smoothly and accurately is anything special, you even need to do that in a car to avoid a shunt.
The train steers itself, the internal alarm warns of the signal status, the dead man’s handle will stop the train so I would have thought the hardest thing to cope within on a train is boredom.
You obviously don’t have a train set.
I have to operate , the trains, beware of derailments, operate the signals and junctions and avoid other trains being on the same track whilst the trains are in motion, all simultaneously, none of these are the responsibility of the train driver on the real thing
Oh and I am none unionised, so my trains are more reliable and run on time.

“none unionised”. And illiterate.

 

[TinFoilHat]

Just received an email asking if I want voluntary severance.

Fuckers have jumped the gun as there's only been one consultation meeting.

 

[bluethrunthru]