The frustrating thing is that it's not even the strike action (yet!) that is causing a lot of the issues with Transpennine. They appear to be pretty piss poor in general with their service.Going to try the day trip on Saturday for the first time this season.
Spend more time checking trains are running etc
Historically accurate post but the Unions went too far in the 60’s and 70’s. My mate was supposed to be on a visit of the factory floor at Halewood on Merseyside, when he got there the Manager told him the visit was off because the Union Rep wouldn’t allow it. It’s why Thatcher targeted powerful unions, they’d gone too far and paid a price for their previous actions.Don't want to take this off topic, but exactly the reason why Trade Unions were formed. Imagine if none existed, the UK would be one giant sweatshop, working for a pittance, on zero hours contracts all over, no sick pay, no holidays and getting 1 day a week off and fired at the whim of your employee with no severance package.
Never understood the desire for workers to demand that others who are better organised, should be forced downwards, while doing nothing about non-tax paying multinationals or Leadership Teams on millions a year and being rewarded even when they fail.
Anyways, good luck Blues who are travelling on the strike days and I hope you find alternatives.
Going to my second game of the season on Saturday, long way from Devon .The seat exchange has worked a treat during the on going strikes.
Good old Maggie, saving the country from the greedy workers and turning into the sunlit utopia that we see today.Historically accurate post but the Unions went too far in the 60’s and 70’s. My mate was supposed to be on a visit of the factory floor at Halewood on Merseyside, when he got there the Manager told him the visit was off because the Union Rep wouldn’t allow it. It’s why Thatcher targeted powerful unions, they’d gone too far and paid a price for their previous actions.
It wont be cancelled. It'll be delayed for 24 hours :-)What?? Trans-pennine are actually running a train? Nah, it'll be cancelled.
Historically accurate post but the Unions went too far in the 60’s and 70’s. My mate was supposed to be on a visit of the factory floor at Halewood on Merseyside, when he got there the Manager told him the visit was off because the Union Rep wouldn’t allow it. It’s why Thatcher targeted powerful unions, they’d gone too far and paid a price for their previous actions.
Well, fingers crossed I get the day return for Brentford on the trains. Crack the cans open on the way down (wait until a reasonable hour of course... 9am!) and then the train back up. The Mrs is already saying "what if the train back is cancelled" - told her I'll cross that bridge if I come to it.Transpenine cancellations and others on non strike days are due to an overtime ban that has been on for months.
I have started using the megabus service from Glasgow for matches.Not ideal but a lot better than I thought it would be.
Staying at Blackpool as well for weekend games as Manchester prices are far too high.
Don't even think about doing it in a day return now.
The good old days for that seem to be an age ago.
Used to hate Northern Rail service but they are now decent compared to the rest.
Blackpool has an decent National Express service to Manchester which is usually quicker than the train as well.
May investigate joining the Blackpool branch of the supporters club now though.
I agree pal, I was staunch Labour in my younger days, my mate works for Northern Rail, he’s got a few quid due to his previous work, he’s behind the strikes to protect the younger workers who are being treated very shoddily, he’s very moderate with his views on politics, he’s just annoyed like most about the current economic climate.Hey I agree with some parts of that. I was raised as part of a TU family and have moved away from it and the profession I am in doesn't have Unions in it. But I respect what they do.
Especially in the 70's it did seem that Unions went to far, but I would counter with just how relevant is that now? The 70's and 60's were 40-50 years ago.
It's like saying in the 80's and 90's that the Germans were nutters in the 30's and 40's so we should keep on punishing them.
Times move on, so do Unions. Employers seem worse than ever, witness P&O and British Gas for the way they sh*t on their highly skilled staff, or most companies who have wriggled out of pension contributions for their staff.
What hasn't changed is that how many times have we heard of workers taking pay freezes etc etc, yet CEO's and Shareholders coin it in. It's not right. It leads to people relying on Government benefits as firms refuse to pay a living wage.
No person who works hard in a job should need benefits, they should be paid at rates that mean benefits are not needed. The latest strikes are about protecting the rates of pay and conditions. We are the 5th richest economy after all?