Southern Rail Unions

[davew]

The annoying thing is its the government (tax payer) and not Southern Rail that lose money during these periods of industrial action so their management have no incentive to solve the dispute.[/QUOTE]

Yes this true,Ian hislop stated this on have I got news the other week

I confirmed this with my neighbor who is a manager on Greater Anglia

 

[MK Shrimper]

Not sure about that - we pay out on (what's known as) Schedule 8 (delays) and Schedule 4 (cancellations) though these have to be due to causes such as infrastructure failure, suicides or weather - a strike that has got nothing to do with Network Rail (and hence the tax payer) wouldn't be liable.

I think what IH said is that the TOCs have no desire to plough money back into the railway to improve it, as we (NR and the taxpayer) pay them if a train is delayed due to ancient infrastructure - the customer gets a paltry bit of that money whilst the TOC gets the vast majority of it - and we are talking many millions of £££s.

Nationalise it all now.

 

[Ricky Otto]

Itis a joke, I thought greater Anglia were bad until I started commuting from mygirlfriends place in Norwood junction a couple of times a week. Althoughabellio greater Anglia aren’t too reliable I can’t remember any strike actionin recent years and my colleagues that travel on c2c don’t either. Southernrail seem to strike every couple of months, are their pay conditions and benefitsbad in comparison to warrant this amount of striking? Surely a company thatreported a profit of over £100m should be paying their staff a competitivesalary? I’m with MK on this, nationalisation would surely be the way forward,if these companies are reporting big profits then surely it is feasible to run asa public service with better salaries for staff and cheaper ticket prices? Imight be missing something glaringly obvious that doesn’t equate to it beingthat simple? Please feel free to educate me if I am

 

[MK Shrimper]

Itis a joke, I thought greater Anglia were bad until I started commuting from mygirlfriends place in Norwood junction a couple of times a week. Althoughabellio greater Anglia aren’t too reliable I can’t remember any strike actionin recent years and my colleagues that travel on c2c don’t either. Southernrail seem to strike every couple of months, are their pay conditions and benefitsbad in comparison to warrant this amount of striking? Surely a company thatreported a profit of over £100m should be paying their staff a competitivesalary? I’m with MK on this, nationalisation would surely be the way forward,if these companies are reporting big profits then surely it is feasible to run asa public service with better salaries for staff and cheaper ticket prices? Imight be missing something glaringly obvious that doesn’t equate to it beingthat simple? Please feel free to educate me if there

People will raise the ghost of British Rail, unions, and striking......oh. :blush:

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Itis a joke, I thought greater Anglia were bad until I started commuting from mygirlfriends place in Norwood junction a couple of times a week. Althoughabellio greater Anglia aren’t too reliable I can’t remember any strike actionin recent years and my colleagues that travel on c2c don’t either. Southernrail seem to strike every couple of months, are their pay conditions and benefitsbad in comparison to warrant this amount of striking? Surely a company thatreported a profit of over £100m should be paying their staff a competitivesalary? I’m with MK on this, nationalisation would surely be the way forward,if these companies are reporting big profits then surely it is feasible to run asa public service with better salaries for staff and cheaper ticket prices? Imight be missing something glaringly obvious that doesn’t equate to it beingthat simple? Please feel free to educate me if I am

the disput is not pay but is Southern wanting to shift passenger safety onto the drivers. They say there will be no job losses or pay cuts so it is very strange that would put up with so much service disruption just to move responsibility from someone who wants to keep it onto someone who doesn't want it.
Aside from the strikes their service is appalling. On a strike day I know what to expect and work round it, on a normal day you have no idea what they will or more often won't run. Pretty much everyone who uses their services wants the franchise taken off them.

 

[Ricky Otto]

the disput is not pay but is Southern wanting to shift passenger safety onto the drivers. They say there will be no job losses or pay cuts so it is very strange that would put up with so much service disruption just to move responsibility from someone who wants to keep it onto someone who doesn't want it.
Aside from the strikes their service is appalling. On a strike day I know what to expect and work round it, on a normal day you have no idea what they will or more often won't run. Pretty much everyone who uses their services wants the franchise taken off them.

I didn't realise that, and working in insurance I'm not sure I quite understand it? The financial liability would have to be with southern rails public liability insurance surely? So they just want to put accountability and blame so they can sack them more easily? Again I could be missing something here.

As for the service when they aren't striking, I totally agree. Luckily a lot of trains go through Norwood junction, so I'm rarely majorly inconvenienced. Still a pain when they cancel a fast train and you have to get the next one 20mins later that takes twice the time because it stops at every stop! I'm sure with you being further out your inconvenience eclipses mine.

 

[Bearded Shrimper]

I live in zone 2 so i don't have the big problems with Southern but to me they're perfectly decent, good even, on the odd occasions they run as they should.

most days the train i would get to work doesn't run, occasionally something is late enough for me to get in at a good time, most of the time a train turns up at some point and i get in later than i want. all time tables and whatever are basically useless and it's just dumb luck.

however, i can usually get on the Southern, whenever it arrives, but there is no chance at all of getting on the overground so there's no actual choice.

The whole experience of the trains has put me off moving back to Essex. I'd much prefer a life outside of London

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

1st day of full Southern train service according to their PR. 1st one cancelled, got on the 2nd but 2 stops in the train has a fault. Someone near me with bad bad breath.