Underground strike news

Barty · Post by **Barty** » 10 Jun 2009 06:07

If this helps anyone, the Northern Line is reported as near normal service as at 0650.

Eagle · Post by **Eagle** » 10 Jun 2009 07:21

We should not Crowe about it but that is good news.

It is disgracefull people going on strike for more money when others are having wage reductions and losing jobs. Sack any strikers and appt from newly unemployed. Short delay in training but worth it to get rid of the union

fishcox · Post by **fishcox** » 10 Jun 2009 08:02

It was easier than usual to get to work in Euston this morning!!

Tube workers should just get on with their work - they hardly have anything to whinge about - a driver makes £40k a year.

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 10 Jun 2009 10:24

I don't know thw ins and outs of the dispute, nor do I know the offer(s) on the table....

But surely they are within their rights to strike if their wage-rises aren't reflecting the cost of living increases? And, as such, there wages are being reduced in real terms?

Also, wasn't part of the dispute over job security? Again, isn't it fair enough to strike if LU are threatening job losses?

Ginge · Post by **Ginge** » 10 Jun 2009 11:07

Why can't they just get on with the jobs their paid to do and not make everyone elses life harder, there's enough uncertainty without having to worry about how to get to work. My firm has frozen wages and has warned of redundancy but nobody is talking about strikes in my office. These unions are too powerful and the growing frequency of striking/blackmailing is unacceptable.

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 10 Jun 2009 11:12

Ginge wrote:Why can't they just get on with the jobs their paid to do and not make everyone elses life harder, there's enough uncertainty without having to worry about how to get to work. My firm has frozen wages and has warned of redundancy but nobody is talking about strikes in my office. These unions are too powerful and the growing frequency of striking/blackmailing is unacceptable.

and you wouldn't take the oppertunity to fight for your pay rises / job security if you could?

Perhaps if more people did then we wouldn't be in as big a mess as we are now...

As I said, I don't know about the specifics of this dispute and who is in the wrong and so on. But I'm surprised that so many people seem against the principle of industrial action!

leenewham · Post by **leenewham** » 10 Jun 2009 11:15

How many bankers went on strike when they had massive job losses?

How many staff at the Cheltenham and gloucester bank are going on strike?

How many people working in advertising, design or marketing went on strike when the recession hit and redundances were announced?

How many staff striked when the energy companies took away pension entitlements and enforced redundances?

None. Now one. Zip. Zero.

Sometimes companies have to make redundancies. It's not nice and I don't agree with it, but in this case it's like carry on the 1970's on the London Underground. Bob Crowe just likes to get his fat sweaty head in the papers. Shame he doesn't get a p45.

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 10 Jun 2009 11:19

noone else is doing it so that makes it wrong?

Perhaps if some of the workers organised themselves properly then the bosses of the banks and so on wouldn't have been able to take the piss so much....

just a thought.

Ginge · Post by **Ginge** » 10 Jun 2009 11:23

If I was criminally negligent (opening the wrong train doors etc) then I would expect to lose my job and not have my co-workers rally around to reinstate someone who was unsafe and incompetent.

MiniFox · Post by **MiniFox** » 10 Jun 2009 13:06

I also dont know the terms and conditions of this strike, however, LU do seem to strike now, annually and I think, given the level of suffering of many people in different industries, any sympathy folk may have had is going to be meagre. We're a world class city and a few days a year, LU workers seem to hold the capital to ransom

I think the example set by the employees at Honda who actually worked out a deal to keep everyone in employment by freezing their pay was far more impressive, realistic and honourable

That said, I've just come of out of hospital only yesterday and so my boss telling me to wfh today on account of the strike was really welcome. Just dont tell Bob Crowe!

MiniFox · Post by **MiniFox** » 10 Jun 2009 13:07

Poor Barty, all he wanted to do was help a few people out with some details on what was running and we all pile in

Paddy Pantsdown · Post by **Paddy Pantsdown** » 10 Jun 2009 13:48

Yes MiniFox I am surprised by the emotion. The tube drivers choose to strike as is their right in any supposedly free society. We can still choose to walk, cycle, bus or train around London (or even suffer the Northern Line).

A bit of possible inconvenience to us whereas for the tube drivers it is the threat of dismissal with consequent risk of losing homes and families. We should get that in perspective. They will presumably also lose pay.

Even so Lee there may be a hidden message that striking bankers, advertising and marketing people would not be so missed! Does that mean tube drivers are worth more?

PP

Barty · Post by **Barty** » 10 Jun 2009 14:48

MiniFox wrote:Poor Barty, all he wanted to do was help a few people out with some details on what was running and we all pile in

Yeah it was a bit light the blue touchpaper and stand well back wasn't it

Chazza · Post by **Chazza** » 10 Jun 2009 15:31

A relation of mine drives a tube train on the Victoria line. From speaking to her, it seems that it's not actually the drivers who have walked out (as an ASLEF member, she's in work today), but the station staff (most of whom belong to RMT).

fishcox · Post by **fishcox** » 10 Jun 2009 15:50

I agree totally with the right to strike - but I think LUL staff have it pretty good, in the overall scheme of things.

I dont understand why LUL should have to make anybody redundant - surely the tube network has had increased passenger numbers over the past few years, and prices have certainly gone up. Ergo, surely there is sufficient money available to keep staffing levels at least at present levels (if not needing more staff).

LUL should not need to be run at a profit, its a public service.

If there is one thing that seriously needs looking at, its the way the whole network is being upgraded, and the money being spent on it. I deal with the two companies who are in charge of upgrading the network (Tube Lines and Metronet - now Tfl) on a daily basis.

I have never come across two more badly run companies in all my life - its shocking.

MiniFox · Post by **MiniFox** » 10 Jun 2009 16:06

Paddy Pantsdown wrote: A bit of possible inconvenience to us whereas for the tube drivers it is the threat of dismissal with consequent risk of losing homes and families. We should get that in perspective. They will presumably also lose pay.
PP

Just because I dont drive a tube train, doesnt mean its easier for me to pay my mortgage or feed my family. I actually support the right of people to strike. However, there is a frequency to these actions that does diminish the argument to me at least

Anyway, as I said, I dont seem to be able to understand the issue. Is it an issue on pay or is it an issue on redundancy? Has pay been frozen year on year? I'm not being facetious, I dont know. Are tube workers under threat of their jobs, wholesale? I dont know but I'd be interested to hear the justification for such dramatic steps so soon after the last round of disruption

I think you need a very good reason to take such action. Invoke that too often, and people such as myself who fundamentally support your collective right to protect yourself and have a say are going to lose faith in your argument or your perspective. These actions affect people's lives too and not always just by making us walk around town or finding a different way to work

MiniFox · Post by **MiniFox** » 10 Jun 2009 16:14

Barty wrote:
MiniFox wrote:Poor Barty, all he wanted to do was help a few people out with some details on what was running and we all pile in

Yeah it was a bit light the blue touchpaper and stand well back wasn't it

Hmmm Barty, you're a very bad man!
It must be nice to see us all taking a rest from hammering your employers, eh??!
Londoners, we love it. Its our regional sport, baiting transport workers, isnt it
Anyway, I normally stay well away from these inflammatory forum rows, and today I've waded right in. Bad Foxy

MiniFox · Post by **MiniFox** » 10 Jun 2009 16:19

bensonby wrote: and you wouldn't take the oppertunity to fight for your pay rises / job security if you could?

Perhaps if more people did then we wouldn't be in as big a mess as we are now...

Do you think? It makes me think of Dylan Moran's line "have you ever met a Child who ISNT in need..? When did you last hear a child say, "mmm, that's enough cake for me, thanks?"

Juwlz · Post by **Juwlz** » 10 Jun 2009 16:58

Let them strike. If they are organised and powerful enough, good for them. I can't believe the whinging over a poxy couple of days inconvenience.

Get a bike if its so important for you to be at work on time.

Katebubble · Post by **Katebubble** » 10 Jun 2009 20:08

I would dearly love to cycle Juwlz but work 15 miles on the other side of the city therefore rely heavily on Tfl to get me to work (amidst my company laying off approx. 4000 workers and instating a pay freeze...)

My sympathy for the strikers is therefore limited...good on all those tube workers who turned up today and ignored the outdated, greedy, throwing-toys-out-of-the-pram Crowings...

Did anyone see the guest column in the London Paper from the Tfl worker today? Summed it up for me completely...

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Underground strike news

Underground strike news