UK Lockdown

[Alistair20000]

Is that Bertie 4th in from the right ?

I find French butlers to be very reliable and versatile.

 

[Alistair20000]

5th from the right looks like Tisdale with a ‘syrup’

Correct. He is sporting Stroudy’s merkin.

He sources the cheese course for dinner parties

 

[Oldsmobile-88]

My sister went up to London today and said there was one other person in the carriage.

The Treasury(taxpayers) are propping up rail operators to the tune of £750m a month..People are simply not travelling on trains.Working from home,Conference calls,no spectators at events at weekends have taken there toll on revenue.

Other parts of the travel sector,especially coach company’s & travel agents that are going bust left right & centre will look at the figure & wonder what the hell is going on.

 

[RedPaul]

Well said Olds. Why don't they shut all the railways for 3 months from December 1st to February 28th and do 10 years worth of 'engineering works' in that time?

The RMT are already rabble rousing about job-cuts. Well go on strike matey, no-one needs you at the moment. All that arguing and horrendous disruption about who was going to close the doors? Well there aren't any doors needing closing, so on your bike.

 

[The Proper Chap]

Train drivers in London are on circa 80k a year including overtime and benefits.

Is this reasonable ?

 

[Oldsmobile-88]

Train drivers in London are on circa 80k a year including overtime and benefits.

Is this reasonable ?

The market drove the salaries higher when the rail network was privatised,the same happened in the other former state industry’s..That’s the free market.

 

[The Proper Chap]

Idiotic unions also play a big part in these wage rises, they generally appear to be clueless in terms of the ramifications / viability ever increasing salaries cause.

So many sectors have become / are becoming unviable partly because of unrealistic wage levels.

 

[RedPaul]

The market drove the salaries higher when the rail network was privatised,the same happened in the other former state industry’s..That’s the free market.

I'm sure you will soon be able to find 3,000 people willing to do it for a measly £50k

 

[Oldsmobile-88]

I'm sure you will soon be able to find 3,000 people willing to do it for a measly £50k

I knew a few drivers who worked for BR back in the day.It was always a well paid job in the rail industry.With privatisation the drivers were being courted by the different franchises with obviously money being the driver(no pun intended)

I’m not sure about how powerful the Union is these days besides being awkward on certain issues already mentioned.
I don’t think they have the clout these days to push for & get excessive wage demands above RPI.

There are a few dinosaurs around no doubt in the RMT..Luckily the industry i worked in for 40 years the TU representing us had a pragmatic approach to issues arising & looked at the long game(thank goodness)

 

[RedPaul]

The RMT always appear to me to be in 'negotiations'. As TPC alludes to, pay rises are always just one aspect of it. the length of the working week, holiday allowances, overtime rates always get rolled into these negotiations and are frequently all added to on the side, and behind the headlines.

If there is one time for the Gov to call their bluff it is now. There is no service to hold to ransom. If I was Shapps I'd be sitting down and thrashing out the terms for a 5 year pay deal now. But he's too preoccupied with whether to add Liechenstein to the quarantine list and take off the St Kitts and Nevis.