Do you support the RMT?

[TinFoilHat]

I think they’re right, especially when it comes to exposing the chronic staffing levels of drivers and the assumption that they’ll work their days of. They nominally run a train to and from both Lincoln and Harrogate everyday and, almost every single day, they’re both cancelled. They start ‘Edinburgh to London’ trains, from Newcastle, York or Doncaster at least once a day.
Even though they know there is a driver shortfall, they refuse to alter the timetable which would at least give passengers some certainty.
Where I disagree is the timing of this. Get round the table with the new minister and see if it can be resolved. I’m sure there will be a new management team put on place sooner or later and giving the new government a chance might have been a wiser course of action?

I expect the action will be suspended next week for this very reason.

Meanwhile Tory boys are up in arms as the plebs fight back against their paymasters but say fuck all if the paymasters exploit the plebs.

 

[hampshireblue]

The unions have played the Labour government like a fiddle. When you offer a ‘no-strings’ deal, it’s not a negotiation, it’s a capitulation. Only a fool does that, and the unions know it. With the new pay increases the train drivers don’t want and don’t need to work Saturdays. The new strikes very conveniently solve that problem. Embarrassing to say the least for Labour.

The new strike is completely separate to the national pay deal just agreed. It is specific to a particular company and in no way national, as the previous strikes have been. I suspect the "problem individual" is close to the top of the organisation and probably is dogmatically against unions and agreements made with them. If this is the case, they need to have their wings clipped or told to walk. Lots of organisations do pay deals without strings attached-it's how they retain, sometimes highly trained staff, knowing that if they don't remain competitive salary wise they will generate a recruitment and training issue for themselves. The pay dispute had been going on for years and the 3 years 15% deal is still below the inflation rate for that period. Without knowing all of the T&Cs, few if any outside the industry will know the whole situation and the basis on what the agreement was based.

 

[TinFoilHat]

So what's the strike for?

Full breakdown in industrial relations. Not just that.

 

[Vic]

Isn’t LNER run by the government? Doesn’t bode well for renationalising them does it?

They left the MD and other management in place after Virgin Trains lost the franchise.

Rail boss David Horne insists his appointment at LNER is ‘right thing to do’

David Horne was managing director of Virgin East Coast Trains and was handed the same title at nationalised operator London North Eastern Railway.

www.shropshirestar.com

 

[TinFoilHat]

They left the MD and other management in place after Virgin Trains lost the franchise.

Rail boss David Horne insists his appointment at LNER is ‘right thing to do’

David Horne was managing director of Virgin East Coast Trains and was handed the same title at nationalised operator London North Eastern Railway.

www.shropshirestar.com

Just before the Tories fucked off they signed off a one off payment to all LNER managers for a one off COVID thank you bonus of £1700 per management role as a thank you for staying at home whilst front line workers continued working through it. That maybe part of the dispute as well.

 

[Vic]

Full breakdown in industrial relations. Not just that.

I mean, what are the demands?

What do we want, and when do we want it?

What was the ballot question? "Anyone fancy a strike?" "Horne must go"? And presumably the ballot on this issue was voted on before the new pay deal was announced.

 

[TinFoilHat]

https://aslef.org.uk/publications/aslef-drivers-strike-lner

 

[metalblue]

Just before the Tories fucked off they signed off a one off payment to all LNER managers for a one off COVID thank you bonus of £1700 per management role as a thank you for staying at home whilst front line workers continued working through it. That maybe part of the dispute as well.

Not saying it’s right or wrong they received those payments but Isn’t that then about money? Perhaps Labour should have said a condition of the pay award was no strike action for a couple of years.

 

[Vic]

Not saying it’s right or wrong they received those payments but Isn’t that then about money? Perhaps Labour should have said a condition of the pay award was no strike action for a couple of years.

But that would be a "green light" to managers to break negotiated agreements (which is at the heart of the LNER dispute).

 

[PPT]

Not saying it’s right or wrong they received those payments but Isn’t that then about money? Perhaps Labour should have said a condition of the pay award was no strike action for a couple of years.

Labour should immediately withdraw the new pay agreement until this is resolved. They will not do that of course as they do not have the balls.