On 29 Nov 2016 at 9:58am Lost the will wrote:
Yet more strikes on Southern Fail as ASLEF join in:
December 6-8,13,14,16,22-24,31
January 1,2,9,10-14
Getting beyond a joke now, and any sympathy for conductors is rapidly disappearing.....
On 29 Nov 2016 at 10:56am train driver wrote:
The new strike dates are from ASLEF and it is the Train Drivers going on strike. The other dates are the RMT and the conductors going on strike!
On 29 Nov 2016 at 11:28am Lost the will wrote:
Drivers or Conductors, I think Christmas Carole sums up the frustration felt by many.....
On 29 Nov 2016 at 12:17pm The Greek wrote:
Southern are in the pocket of the DfT who won't budge. The DfT of our lovely Conservative MP's government. DOO is being mandated by them form the top to cut yet more costs, while the Southern shareholders and management line their pockets with the proceeds of the "management contract".
This "management contract" means the fares go straight to the DfT, so Southern has no incentive to improve service as they receive a set fee. I say we go on a fare strike. No-one pay and the staff leave the barriers open. Then they might listen.
On 29 Nov 2016 at 12:26pm ar10642 wrote:
This strike, like all the others, will achieve nothing except make rail users' lives difficult and lose the drivers money. GTR and teh DfT couldn't care less if no trains run at all. Usually the opposition would raise this in parliament and ask the government difficult questions, perhaps forcing a policy U-turn or some other remedial action. Unfortunately comrade Corbyn is too busy singing the praises about brutal dictator Fidel Castro to do any actual opposition.
On 29 Nov 2016 at 12:34pm Tom Pain wrote:
Well said Greek, it's the only possible solution.
On 29 Nov 2016 at 6:44pm Marlen wrote:
I have been sympathetic to RMT's and ASLEF's cause but no body is forcing them to strike over Christmas when so many people need to travel to be together. Those who have no car are comdemned to be miserably alone.
So i am finding that choice of dates utterly callous.
And i would love to hear from some one who can defend it and explain it to me.
Not the strike, I repeat, but the choice of dates.
On 29 Nov 2016 at 7:45pm Sussex Dim wrote:
I agree with the overarching sentiment of this thread. People have no right to take steps to save their jobs, no right to not accept worsening conditions, and definitely no right to interfere with the massive profits that a huge business and their shareholders can make. The Conservatives are absolutely right to support big business, if that means giving them money us taxpayers have to donate, or giving them the legal mandate to endanger commuters lives.
Commuters are only tax paying workers too, they’re nowhere near as important as those profit margins. You see, if we all would just accept less pay, or worsening conditions, the wealthy businesses and business owners will have more money, which is good for the economy.
I’m going along with all the media outlets that have a vested interest in workers’ rights being stifled and reduced wage bills – this is entirely the fault of the strikers and the RMT. Southern Rail have made it 100% clear they’re not interested in negotiating, so it’s nothing to do with them.
On 29 Nov 2016 at 8:02pm Fed up wrote:
We should find out where the top dogs live and go camp outside their houses - stop them from going to work, play golf etc.. Then once they are out, stop them from getting back home. See how they like it, messing up peoples's lives and jobs.
On 29 Nov 2016 at 9:21pm Sussex Dim wrote:
What?
Why? Why would you do that, when our newspapers tell us to blame the workers and fuel the decline of the working and middle classes?
Don’t you want the wealthy elite to get wealthier?
It’s about time you got on-message.
On 30 Nov 2016 at 10:56am ar10642 wrote:
Sussex Dim, so what do you have to say about the fact that the strikes are not having any effect in the sense that the DfT and GTR show no signs of backing down whatsoever? Just keep doing it anyway, for giggles? What about the people whose jobs might be at risk because they can't come into work for large chunks of December?
The point of a strike is to force the employer to listen to you by hurting their profits. The way the GTR franchise has been set up means that the strikes aren't doing that - there is *no* financial risk to GTR if no trains run at all, and the government have effectively bottomless pockets. It's futile.
On 1 Dec 2016 at 12:07am Sussex Dim wrote:
Well, that’s the perfect governance we all voted for, the neo-con dream - offshore businesses guaranteed a profit paid for by the little people who have to pay taxes.
The real beauty is, any industrial action just alienates and demonises the working classes even further. If we start thinking of them as animals, it justifies treating them like animals.
I suppose you’re one of those communists who think taxes should be spent on things that might benefit the people that actually pay them?
On 1 Dec 2016 at 10:30am ar10642 wrote:
I don't really know what that little tirade has to do with the fact that the government (with Southern/GTR as its sock puppet) is forcing through the changes that the guards object to. I don't really think it's worth it, but neither do I really buy the safety arguments - there have not been a significant number of incidents on Thameslink for the last 30 years. The RMT's stance is similar to the "over the top" tactics in WW1. This didn't work the last 6 or 7 times but THIS strike's going to show 'em!
On 2 Dec 2016 at 2:10am wrote:
That makes sense – no serious incidents in 30 years, so they can afford to relax safety standards.
What exactly, do you think, is the target number of deaths?