Strikes

[Firestorm]

Well I am moaning about from a selfish point of view. I manage a team of 12 people who largely travel in from Essex and Kent. As a result of this strike I'm wasting my time trying to work on a contingency plan of sorts to get people into the office, but ultimately facing up to the prospect of me and my team having to work serious overtime this week and quite likely good friday as well as then playing catch up the following week.

Sympathy for them? Bugger off. Quite frankly I think they are the selfish ones...oh and a bunch of *****

Out of interest , what would happen if one of your team refused to work on good friday ?

 

[MK Shrimper]

Well I am moaning about from a selfish point of view. I manage a team of 12 people who largely travel in from Essex and Kent. As a result of this strike I'm wasting my time trying to work on a contingency plan of sorts to get people into the office, but ultimately facing up to the prospect of me and my team having to work serious overtime this week and quite likely good friday as well as then playing catch up the following week.

Sympathy for them? Bugger off. Quite frankly I think they are the selfish ones...oh and a bunch of *****

Blame NR management, why blame the continually put upon staff on the ground for protecting their livelihoods? Nobody wants to strike, it's not a case of sitting on their arse, it's a case of losing serious pay.

 

[The Flying Scotsman]

Out of interest , what would happen if one of your team refused to work on good friday ?

There's not exactly a great deal we can do about it. For some they will get paid double time, and for others all this stuff gets wrapped up and is reflected in annual appraisal and bonus etc.

 

[The Flying Scotsman]

Blame NR management, why blame the continually put upon staff on the ground for protecting their livelihoods? Nobody wants to strike, it's not a case of sitting on their arse, it's a case of losing serious pay.

Quite frankly I don't give two hoots what you're striking about. All I see is the usual disruption to what I do. As for people being made redundant - welcome to the real world!! There's cost cutting going on all over the place and the strikers aren't the only ones at risk.

I can't imagine any of the strikers are worrying about what my team do with their end-March numbers etc...

 

[canveyshrimper]

Blame NR management, why blame the continually put upon staff on the ground for protecting their livelihoods? Nobody wants to strike, it's not a case of sitting on their arse, it's a case of losing serious pay.

I doubt if Bob Crow will lose any of his 90k plus salary in sympathy with his members who will go without pay.

 

[chadded]

It's also about the 1500 souls who are threatened with redundancy despite the ORR telling NR that we're seriously understaffed.

The Army are making 500 redundant at a time when we are fighting a war. Not some nice peacekeeping jolly somewhere warm, a war.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8580961.stm

Will the Army strike? Will they ****. They'll carry on doing what they do best. And that's being the best.

So let's put all this another way. Blokes threatened with redundancy are putting their arse on the line 3000 miles away, getting shot at (Bullets travel at around 700 metres per second, and are a tad harder to dodge than a **** off great train 'ambling' at 100mph) and getting blown up left, right and chelsea, and you are going on strike because you don't want to work weekends?

Enjoy your picket line. No really.

 

[Firestorm]

There's not exactly a great deal we can do about it. For some they will get paid double time, and for others all this stuff gets wrapped up and is reflected in annual appraisal and bonus etc.

So double time and or bonus's for anti social hours, now that seems fair enough.

 

[MK Shrimper]

The Army are making 500 redundant at a time when we are fighting a war. Not some nice peacekeeping jolly somewhere warm, a war.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8580961.stm

Will the Army strike? Will they ****. They'll carry on doing what they do best. And that's being the best.

So let's put all this another way. Blokes threatened with redundancy are putting their arse on the line 3000 miles away, getting shot at (Bullets travel at around 700 metres per second, and are a tad harder to dodge than a **** off great train 'ambling' at 100mph) and getting blown up left, right and chelsea, and you are going on strike because you don't want to work weekends?

Enjoy your picket line. No really.

Did I say this was right? No of course not. The army have been shafted that's obvious.

But it doesn't stop me and my colleagues trying to defend our livelihoods against an aggressive, bullying management who like to cut jobs rather than look at savings elsewhere.

It's a shame that it's come to this and it's going to **** off commuters but try and look at NR management rather than the poor sods who are being told that they're under threat of being rostered onto permanent nights.

 

[The Flying Scotsman]

So double time and or bonus's for anti social hours, now that seems fair enough.

Bonuses were down min 50% last year and there have been pay freezes for the last 2. Are we complaining, no we're knuckling down and cracking on. This is the world we currently live in, and we're the lucky ones.

 

[Bob Cratchitt]

I doubt if Bob Crow will lose any of his 90k plus salary in sympathy with his members who will go without pay.

I think I would be more sympathetic to the Unions, if everytime they called a strike they too were not paid during the duration of the strike, in what you guys would call an act of solidarity. Until then I do have my suspicions on some of the strikes called.

And MK you have not really helped the opinion on this board of NR staff, when you have openly gloated about having an easy life and spending most of every working hour on this site.

I am sure your answer will revolve around the current working practices that you have to adhere to that gives you so much free time. Which would say to me the management needs to sort this out to ensure that they actually have staff in to cover the work at the times needed. At the end of the day nobody put a gun to you head to make you chose your job, it was your call.

Opps just realised that last section would probably lead to a strike as to implement that would be mean a change to the working practices.

 

[chadded]

Did I say this was right? No of course not. The army have been shafted that's obvious.

But it doesn't stop me and my colleagues trying to defend our livelihoods against an aggressive, bullying management who like to cut jobs rather than look at savings elsewhere.

It's a shame that it's come to this and it's going to **** off commuters but try and look at NR management rather than the poor sods who are being told that they're under threat of being rostered onto permanent nights.

Permanent night's beats no job at all. Permanent nights works fine for plenty of workers in this country and the world over.

Regardless of the job, if someone told me I had a choice of permanent nights or no job at all, or even, your on permanent nights when people around me were getting laid off, I'd just be grateful for the job, and not refusing to work like a spoilt brat of a schoolkid.

Serious question, sorry if you've answered it already, but did you vote to strike?

 

[Lord Football]

Quite frankly I don't give two hoots what you're striking about. All I see is the usual disruption to what I do. As for people being made redundant - welcome to the real world!! There's cost cutting going on all over the place and the strikers aren't the only ones at risk.

I can't imagine any of the strikers are worrying about what my team do with their end-March numbers etc...

May be you should care? We are striking over public services, the railways over safety. I suggest you use both public services and the trains.

I worry about your team, not directly, but I worry about society. A society that is being held down by Media Moguls and their own agenda, a soceity being stripped of its public services when there is another alternative.

I doubt if Bob Crow will lose any of his 90k plus salary in sympathy with his members who will go without pay.

Bob Crow, like most of the paid officials of the RMT, are not paid for by NL but the union itself. So, no he wont lose any wages. However, he will, like they all do, donate that part of his salary into hardship funds / strike funds. Thats what proper Trade Unionists do.

The Army are making 500 redundant at a time when we are fighting a war. Not some nice peacekeeping jolly somewhere warm, a war.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8580961.stm

Will the Army strike? Will they ****. They'll carry on doing what they do best. And that's being the best.

So let's put all this another way. Blokes threatened with redundancy are putting their arse on the line 3000 miles away, getting shot at (Bullets travel at around 700 metres per second, and are a tad harder to dodge than a **** off great train 'ambling' at 100mph) and getting blown up left, right and chelsea, and you are going on strike because you don't want to work weekends?

Enjoy your picket line. No really.

Cuts in the Armed Services are appalling. You know the reasons better than I do. Cuts in the "back office" that supports the MOD are also disgusting. I don't agree with the Wars, but we must be able to support those guys out there in the firing line. Literally in the firing line. You know my arguments about the Tax Gap, that could fund all the helicopters, armour, rockets, etc the Army Needs. So maybe you should be supporting us.

If striking wasn't illegal in the Armed Forces, would there be a desire to do so?

Oh, and remember, you are not travelling on the bullet, but travelling on the train.

 

[chadded]

If striking wasn't illegal in the Armed Forces, would there be a desire to do so?

No. (is this 10 characters yet? Yes. Good)

 

[canveyshrimper]

Bob Crow, like most of the paid officials of the RMT, are not paid for by NL but the union itself. So, no he wont lose any wages. However, he will, like they all do, donate that part of his salary into hardship funds / strike funds. Thats what proper Trade Unionists do.

I don't remember Arthur Scargill giving up much for the hardship of his members as he single handedly destroyed the NUM. 25 years later I bet many of these are still on the breadline while he sits in his ivory tower wittering on about Democratic Socialism, whatever that is.

Bob Crow, like Scargill before him IMO wants a fight with a Government, and I think he'd have no compunction about using his members as cannon fodder in such a fight.

And he supports Millwall.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Serious question, sorry if you've answered it already, but did you vote to strike?

Yes.

And MK you have not really helped the opinion on this board of NR staff, when you have openly gloated about having an easy life and spending most of every working hour on this site.

I'm one person. I've got an spineless, pointless manager who got the job over me because daddy is senior management. I've applied for about 10 other jobs, 2 of which I've interviewed for, both of which would rather employ a graduate on a dismal wage than an experienced engineer who can command a salary.

Many of my colleagues work, long hard hours under pressure out on track in the middle of the night when it's pouring with rain. I would leap at the opportunity to have a meaningful job again - it's not for want of trying believe me.

 

[Bob Cratchitt]

I'm one person. I've got an spineless, pointless manager who got the job over me because daddy is senior management. I've applied for about 10 other jobs, 2 of which I've interviewed for, both of which would rather employ a graduate on a dismal wage than an experienced engineer who can command a salary.

That maybe the case but I am just stating what comes overs from your posts during the last 3 years or so.

Anyway my conf call has finished so it is time for me to say good bye and do some real work.

 

[Lord Football]

I don't remember Arthur Scargill giving up much for the hardship of his members as he single handedly destroyed the NUM. 25 years later I bet many of these are still on the breadline while he sits in his ivory tower wittering on about Democratic Socialism, whatever that is.

Bob Crow, like Scargill before him IMO wants a fight with a Government, and I think he'd have no compunction about using his members as cannon fodder in such a fight.

And he supports Millwall.

Scargill paid straight into the Strike Fund. But of course that never gets reported, does it?

Crow doesn't want a fight with the Government. Mainly because his employers, post nationalisation, are not the Government.

 

[canveyshrimper]

Scargill paid straight into the Strike Fund. But of course that never gets reported, does it?

Crow doesn't want a fight with the Government. Mainly because his employers, post nationalisation, are not the Government.

Considering what Scargill did to his members and their families, he should still be paying to this day.

Lions led by donkeys.

 

[osymandus]

Bonuses were down min 50% last year and there have been pay freezes for the last 2. Are we complaining, no we're knuckling down and cracking on. This is the world we currently live in, and we're the lucky ones.

Why ?

You dont make things better by doing that you just justify the so called economic cuts. IF work needs to be done and your not an emergency service . They have to employ more people which ... oh wait makes the economy in the long term better .

Chadded : No one forced you to become a solider . Yes you boys do a brilliant job and get shafted but fairs fair you lot have the guns and sneaky *******s , why do you blindly follow **** wit politicians, just because they say so (this is steeped in sarcasm just so you know). In the field of battle yes questions don't need to be asked, I though the British army was teh best at defending the British peoples interests ?


And it has been shown that the Gulf War II increased support that wasnt there previously and made the moderates assist the more extremist due to teh ingrained lack of trust on ALL european governments which was left over from T.E Lawrence s time.

 

[chadded]

Chadded : No one forced you to become a solider .

I know. And as far as I know, no one was forced to be a Trolley Dolley for BA, work for national Rail etc.

My underlying point is that if you think your strike is justifyed when young men on far worse terms and conditions are dying, in order to keep you safe, then well, what I think of you is pretty unpublishable.