PM urges more rail strike talks (BBC News)
 

Gordon Brown calls for more dialogue between Network Rail and unions to prevent the first national railways strike for 16 years.

More from BBC News...

When you think about the wholesale transfer of shipping containers from road to rail recently then try and reverse it overnight! The week after Easter is going to be a bloody nightmare if these greedy buggers who have well paid jobs dont get off their butts and do some work.

This dispute has nothing to do with money but rail safety.
Management are trying to enforce changes which the rail unions consider jeopardises rail safety.

If the railways werent safe there would be more accidents.
I think the unions are trying to pull the wool over peoples eyes in an attempt to put the boot in to this Prime Minister at a key time. Strike while the iron is hot!

This strike has been "engineered" by the "bosses" as has the BEA dispute to happen at this time.:mad:
Make the unions look bad ( bad for the labour party) & it is hoped more people will vote Tory.
The time of the election has been known for some time & the Tory (dirty tricks) party's friends have been at it again.

I agree it's all one big game :mad: :mad:

ccmmick.

[QUOTE=klordger1900;44633]If the railways werent safe there would be more accidents.

THATS THE WHOLE POINT!!!!!!

At the moment the railways are as safe as we can possibly make them, you now take away 1500 maintance staff and that will create the unsafe system that the RMT are trying to prevent.

As a driver I do not want to drive over a sytem that is not aswell maintained as it is at the moment.

Its incidents like Grayrigg and Potters Bar that the unions are trying to prevent from happening again.

Les

[QUOTE=LesG;44644]I completely agree - this has little to do with money, except for the unfortunate 1500 victims of yet another big company doing its utmost to maximise its profits by reducing staffing levels. This sort of thing is exactly WHY there ARE unions; Thatcher did it's utmost to destroy the rights of workers, much as that might have seemed a great idea to many at the time, since there were a huge number of strikes back then. As a result, we've lost most of our UK manufacturers - ask yourself where all our trains come from...

:mad::mad:

Why would the Unions plan to strike at a time when people are more likely to vote Tory as a protest against the strikes. Isnt that counter-productive?
I think its a bloody shame that working people are allowed to affect the lives of millions of people (not just UK citizens - but anyone unfortunate enough to be here at the time) in this way. There should be a law against that for a start since the railways are seen as essential to a lot of businesses. This widespread hardship costs everyone concerned a lot of extra money which clearly means that someone else will profit from any strike, but its agro people just dont need. Anyway, there is no reason why we cant build trains here anymore - its just another assembly line which can be started with private/public funds wherever they like; Redcar for instance! Now there's a name and livery for a new train system if ever I heard one!!!

What i don't get is if 1500 people are made redundant, the employer will save some money. But don't those 1500 people then sign on and claim benefits or if they get another job keep someone else unemployed? Seems to me it's a waste of experience and training.
Richard

As some one that may be going on strike lets look at from my point of view under networkrails new terms,I end up with out a job as i am not requied any more because 2 men can do the work of 3 so 23 years of hard work ends up with not a lot to show for it.

Would you not think about striking if some one was going to take your job away from you :mad:

Also team sizes are to be cut,less money spent on Saftey training and cross boarder work are just some of the things that networkrail are tring to push in within these new terms.

Networkrail wanted to cut 1500 maintance staff,so far around 800 have been lost,when the union asked about compulsory redunaces networkrail would not talk about it.

So do you blame them for going on strike i dont.

All the best,Ian

Yes it means the 1500 are unemployed & NOT paying taxes & NHS contributions and the tax payer has to pick up the tab.
This was a nationalised industry & profit was not the first criteria.
As a private company profit is No1

There needs to be much stricter regulations on what Network rail can change and what they cannot. Simple common sense for a start should be the company motto.
They are becomming ever more neglegent. Yesterday on the Piccadilly approach lines I saw some savage wear and tear on the points. Disaster waiting to happen.

This whole thing should be put to binding arbitration. A national service like this should have a no strike policy with a proper negotiation process.

What puzzles me is the deafening silence of rail experts on this. Of course I don't want an unsafe railway - who does? - so why aren't we better informed?

Bob Crow unfortunately always has a political agenda and has no sympathy for New Labour. I'm afraid I don't trust his announcements.

Lets get one thing straight, [B]NO ONE WANTS TO STRIKE.

Sometimes its the last option to try and get the point across.

As an ASLE&F member I won't be going out as its not our fight at the moment, but I assure you of this ASLE&F will be watching in the background as the cause of this industrial unrest will affect us if NR win.

Also remember that if NR win its not only our safety (staff) thats being put at risk but you the travelling public who pay a great deal of money for the ticket.

This dispute is not about staff pay, Its about SAFETY

I personally hope that a solution can be found before the strikes hit but I think this is going to be a long hard fight.

Les

So in other words SHUT UP AND DO WHAT WE WANT YOU TO DO WHATEVER.

Margaret Thatcher would love that quote,

The railways are now PRIVATE and the staff have a right to take strike action if their union feels that substantial talks fail and a mandate has been sought by a ballot of the members. This is the case in this dispute.

Oh by the way I agree about Bob Crow.

Les

Well as a now Ex-employee of Network Rail let me explain how thing's are done you may find this interesting, On the first day back after xmas break i was issued with a Form 1 again being disiplined for somthing that happened back last October. I was asked to cover for a collegue who was off sick an had a phone call at about 2200 hrs on the monday night just as i getting into bed. So being concious about the job i was doing i agreed to cover a week of nights working on a machine on 1 night in particular we had problems with the machine so i was checking the track behind for faults bearing in mind the worksite was flooded with ballast 4 foot an shoulders sleepers burried so we where ploughing ballast off the sleeper ends so as to be able to treat them. well i was charged with Gross Misconduct for that shift due to some broken sleepers, but was handed the Disiplinary on the 4th of Jan an 3 days later i resigned keeping all my skills an Qualifications an now work for a contractor an i feel so much better for getting out when i did but i FULLY AGREE WITH WHAT THIS STRIKE IS ALL ABOUT. Its stopping BULLY BOY TACKTICS of big business trying to change years of good practice which go back decades to the beginning of the railways those of you on here who go on about gettin off our lazy backsides have you ever had to shovel ballast whilst its driving with rain in the middle of nowhere whilst having to stand out for trains to pass i very much doubt it, it's your safety an all the travelling public is why the staff are going on strike so showing a little SUPPORT would go a long way.

All of you have my full support the railways today are all about profit and the workers are just a number, as for saftey on the railways i think it was a lot safer in BR days i am not saying it's not safe today but since privatisation there has been a lot of accidents due to track defect.
Like it has been said before it is all engineered around the general election.

ccmmick.

All have said guys that I think that in certain industries no strike deals would right. This would mean far better safeguards for employees than currently exist though - I am not taking sides

Strikes in the rail industry have always been disastrous. The ASLEF strike in 1955 in the end permanently damaged the freight sector. Some of the anti rail attitude that eventually resulted in the Beeching plan under the rail hating Earnest Marples came from industrial trouble in the industry.


I have no time for Magaret Thatcher she did enormous damage, but I think the RMT members are not well served by their leadership and perhaps should consider a change.

The road hualage industry will be main winners if this strike goes ahead, they must love it!!

The road hualage industry will be main winners if this strike goes ahead, they must love it!![/QUOTE]

This I whole heartedly agree with the only winners in the end will be the road haulage industry.

Les

Problem with all these strikes now is that businesses everywhere are competitive. Most of our customers want their contrs moved at the cheapest possible rates otherwise they go elsewhere. We have to quote using railfreight rates to be competitive so any work which we are forced to switch from rail to road will be at our expense. My business has to pay the haulier to pull the contrs because the railways wont. That is losing my industry a lot of money because we have to keep our customers goods moving and they wont pay any additional charges. Now just to compound that with a 4 day holiday due there is already a drag on road haulage so when the trains do stop, the work they should be doing will only be covered by road hauliers the week after next so guess who pays for the bloody contr demurrage and quay rent? It wont be my customer will it - but it has to be paid in cash by my industry before the contrs are released for delivery.
Pls explain to me how all this is going to help UK plc?
Also all those good folks who are made redundant will surely be made offers of jobs by the other rail infrastructure companies who will be offerred the work which NR has to complete. There wont be many left on the scrap heap after a few months (I would like to know if this is the case). NR are reducing their bottom line costs by shedding jobs and not paying out so many salaries on a 24/7 basis. They therefore defer payments on the work which needs to be done because companies like Jarvis wont take them to court to recover monies owed to them (it was their biggest customer after all, so who sues their biggest customer until it is too late).

Hi klordger,

I entirely agree. A problem for the railway is that it's competitors don't play by the same rules. My nephew is an HGV driver, his working conditions are far worse than most rail workers. His hours are limited only by the tacograph, he sleeps in the cab, and pay and conditions vary enormously. Bob Crow would be horrified!!

Whats more road transport, especially hualage, doesn't begin to pay for the road infrastructure it uses.

I expect your nephew works for a non union organised haulage firm.:(

I usually see the H&S people as the sort of people who I would gladly have a blood vendetta with, but actually I think we need them. When you don't want them and do not need them they appear. When, however, you really do need them and there is lives at stake, they bugger off!

I wish they would get in gear already! :(

If we had a general election using trade union laws we would never get a result.

Hi in reply to my newphew, non unioin haulage companies are in the majority. He has worked for Tesco, BP as well as many others he is not in a union.

Does he work for an agency then?

No he is directly employed as he switches jobs I suspect Union memebership could be a disadvantage, it is certainly not encouraged in the industry to my limited knowledge

Problem with agency drivers is that they dont actually know the 'road' very well and are always getting lost or late for deliveries and cant always do a complete run in the time allotted. Having said that, these companies running the trucks often give out impossible delivery schedules which give drivers barely 5 minutes to breathe take a leak and very little else. Its not a life-style I could envy, I have a brother in the trade!

You're grossly misinformed as to what us "H&S people" are for, and do. As are most people, sadly.

We do a constant, sane, rational, and important job. We don't "appear" or "dissapear" anywhere. Primarily that job is to make sure that the policies, procedures, safe systems of work etc. are in place and adhered to, in order to keep everyone safe out there as far as is reasonably practical, regardless of who may or may not find it an inconvience to their profit margin or clocking off time, if that makes sense.

Without us you'd basically just find a lot of people killing themselves and others by working unsafely, and the industry falling apart due to public and employers liability claims.

It's a sad fact of life that we are misunderstood, and yes sometimes vilified. We can only hope that we can be in the right place at the right time. As long as we are the butt of all, we can only do the best we can. we will never please everyone:)