On 10 Jun 2016 at 1:03pm Railcard Ricky wrote:
That they are a complete shambles. Or worse. Is anything being done to sort of this 'conductor shortage'/unofficial strike? Sack the management.... sell the franchise
On 10 Jun 2016 at 1:36pm Yawn wrote:
The problem is the unique way the GTR franchise is structured. All fares go direct to the DFT who then pay GTR a fee to run the service, thus if a train is late or cancelled it is the DFT who foot the bill - Southern's income is the same, so the current situation is a real win-win for them. It beggars belief that the civil service could agree to such a stupid contract, see page 17 of this week's Pivate Eye for full details (allthough its depressing reading).
On 10 Jun 2016 at 1:45pm Another B and B lady wrote:
Son-in-law took 4 hours to gat back to Lewes from London yesterday evening. Unbelievable....
On 10 Jun 2016 at 2:22pm pn wrote:
I`m not sure why they bother advertising train times any more its a work of fiction and the excuses and apologies just get tedious .They should give them numbers so we don`t have to listen .
The current farce is due to an ongoing unofficial work to rule not the structure of the franchise Yawn. The structure was exactly the same before they stopped bothering to provide a service and in any case they are also shoddy in every other department
How long has it taken to paint the station? Months ?
Why is the bike thingy still broken ?
Useless inefficient couldn`t care less idle .... but otherwise excellent
On 10 Jun 2016 at 3:43pm ar10642 wrote:
The DfT didn't just agree to the contract, they were the architects of it. Presumably this is the only way they could force the company to push through DOO at the cost of everything else, would have been too big a financial risk to GTR otherwise. This has the cold, dead hand of the civil service all over it.
On 10 Jun 2016 at 3:50pm Cold dead hand wrote:
Is that the same hand that will revitalize us and make us a World Power if we exit the EU ? Or is it the hand that metaphorically squeezes the arse cheek of government, while the other one holds a member ?
On 10 Jun 2016 at 5:35pm Belladonna wrote:
I understand Southern are the architects of this mess, having instituted an overtime ban. Now they can't fill the holes in their rosters because they don't have enough staff to run the service without overtime. Every conductor I've spoken to has told me the 'sickness' excuse is just staff not turning up for overtime.
On 10 Jun 2016 at 7:03pm pn wrote:
Oh come on Belladonna use some common sense .They are closing stations losing staff and, no doubt , trying to get rid of the hilarious 19th century "safety" requirements which in English means over staffing. We have had official strikes, which were insufficiently disruptive and now we are suffering unofficial ones
The Unions are doing it. It’s obvious and we have now had a month of their treatment now . .
On 10 Jun 2016 at 8:14pm Celine wrote:
I don't think having conductors on trains is overstaffing. To have good services in the public or private sector you need enough staff and treat them decently. But of course capital hates labour and I'm sure is looking to replace us all with robots.
On 10 Jun 2016 at 10:59pm Dr Beeching wrote:
The RMT is one of the very few trade unions remaining that shows any sign of still possessing the clout to challenge the government. It's obvious to the Tory leadership that it needs to be cut down to size. The best way to do this is to create a franchising arrangement that will free up the employer to really take on the union and fight them to the death. That's what's happening now. The franchisee is guaranteed its income, even if there are no longer any fare-paying passengers left. Why would the employer ever back down, with an arrangement like that?
If anyone thinks that the interests of passengers are being looked after, you are deluded.
On 11 Jun 2016 at 6:01am GoM wrote:
Just rejoice and be thankful that you are getting what the Dr. ordered.
On 11 Jun 2016 at 10:19am Clifford wrote:
The guard on the much delayed and altered service train I was on last night announced that he, his fellow guards and drivers were ashamed to be working for a rail company that organised the service so abysmally. I thought there was going to be a round of applause and a number of passengers went up to congratulate him.
On 11 Jun 2016 at 10:52am pn wrote:
No doubt they would love to blame the managment Clifford but it was a perfectly acceptable service until those idle overpaid arseholes went on strike in such a way as to target working people. No doubt you feel t we should al get squeezed year in year out in the name of social justice ( or something) but we are spending £30k pa on people who could not get a job stacking shelves ; three of them when driverless trains is an old and tried technology. They start on £23k you know, you could cut those costs by at least 50% and then we might get some decent trains that turn up.
These Public monopolies and rail is essentially still in the public sector are like going back in time , have you ever tried dealing with the Council or the Police , I don`t think they know the email has been invented .
Dreadful though the NHS is by ordinary standards at least one feels there is some effort tto do a difficult job and school are really very good indeed now so its not the whole thing , just the corrupt pockets.
Id give the whole thing to Sports Direct to run , cheap efficient clean and reliable quality. It’s a god send
On 11 Jun 2016 at 7:47pm Celine wrote:
pn are you really being serious (deluded,) or is someone pretending to be you for a wind up. It would be hilarious if it wasn't for the fact that late capitalism is shafting all of us, including now the middle classes. I wonder if they've noticed or whether they still inhabit the fantasy land that they are the chums of capitalism.
On 12 Jun 2016 at 2:27am Fat Controller wrote:
pn, put your money where your mouth is and why not tell a conductor to their face that they are "idle overpaid arseholes" instead of hiding in a forum whingeing?
Didn't think so.....go crawl back under your rock until you can come out with something sensible to say!
On 13 Jun 2016 at 10:15am ar10642 wrote:
Anyone interested in reading more about this some more should check out this link. A passenger has done some digging, and there is a very interesting comment from a Southern employee.
As many suspected, these decisions are coming from Whitehall and GTR are just doing their dirty work. Someone really wants to reduce the power of the RMT union and are using the specially arranged GTR contract to do it. GTR in turn are punishing both their staff and customers to implement the dictated changes, because it will have no effect on their bottom line whether the trains run or not.
The media really should be holding somebody to account for this, but because this mainly affects people on the South Coast (i.e. not London), it's not interesting for them.
Check it out here »