I worked in the health service in the 80s and went on strike against Thatcher. We lost. I think everyone has a right to strike. Just can't stand unions that simply want to cause trouble and really can't stand Lynch.
Fair enough Col. To be honest Lynch strikes me as a throwback and I cringe when I hear the old fashioned rhetoric he spouts. But I don’t know the detail of this dispute, and I think everything has been weighted against the worker, skilled or unskilled, for a very long time. The right to strike is an extreme weapon but often the only one which will make a difference. Was that the strike in ‘88? I was working in the NHS then (briefly, it did my head in) and went on a march or two.
Must habe been earlier. I worked at the John Radcliffe in Oxford from 1980-1986. Definitely remember being on a couple of picket lines. Obviously, I grew out of all that socialism nonesense.
Scotrail was bought back into government control via Transport Scotland eight or nine weeks ago. Since then there has been major disruption on the networks, with up to 300 journeys a day being cancelled. This has led to Scotrail running a severely reduced timetable, with last trains running out of Glasgow at around 8 or 9 pm, two to three hours earlier than normal (my last train is normally at 23:50). Several reasons....due to the pandemic, new driver training is massively behind schedule (it takes up to two years to train a driver) so they are struggling to get them trained up. This has led to a shortage of drivers. Up until re-Nationalisation, the drivers were working overtime and extra shifts on their days off, but weren't happy with the conditions that were being set on them, and the proposed pay deal (2.2%) wasn't enough - so ASLEF stopped all overtime working. It's caused chaos for businesses in city centres, early trains not running, late trains not running. Restaurants, bars and venues running at low capacity because people don't want to risk being stranded, bar takings down because those coming into town are driving, gig ticket sales down (Jnr has his first post-Covid gig tomorrow and they've had to hire a private bus to get the numbers they need to go). Scotrail then offered 4.2% and this was also rejected, with threats of strikes coming, on top of the RMT strikes. However, it seems a deal has been done, rumoured 5%, no compulsory redundancies for 5 years, better maternity and adoptiee parent leave, better overtime rates and a few other improvements to their conditions, so hopefully all will return to normal soon. No strike action as such, but they've made as much of a nuisance as possible without bring the country to a standstill. Think the RMT strike action is still going to effect us, but that's a whole seperate dispute. Wish I could strike, haven't had a rate increase for over 7 years, and all my profit is now getting pissed away on these crazy fuel prices....up to £400 on diesel this week already, and still got the working weekend to go
Some of us in the private sector haven't had a rise in real terms for a very long time. When I was working full time and self employed, I couldn't go on strike. Sometimes some public sector workers come across as very entitled.
Following on from Stan's question as to why do Labour politicians find themselves unable to support the RMT union, I have another question. Why do Labour politicians find themselves unable to state what must be plain to pretty much everybody, even if many won't admit it, - that Brexit is a disaster. I saw Yvette Cooper earlier desperately trying not to answer what was a very straightforward question, 'Weren't we better off in the Single Market?' She knows the answer - of course we bleeding were - but Labour are **** scared of raising the issue and it's taken a Tory MP in Tobias Ellwood to come out and say that the Brexit Emperor (Bremporer?) isn't actually wearing any clothes. Labour should make rejoining the Single Market a manifesto pledge.
Please tell me that's a piss take, because if that's real there's more ****ed up people in this country than I thought
Five Labour MP's supporting the RMT strike have been receiving money from the union according to the Times. Rebecca Long Bailey, Diane Abbot, John Mcdonnell, Ian Lavery and someone called Jo Stevens.
Great journalism, looking at the openly declared MPs Register of interests. They received £20k between the five of them since 2020 (you missed that bit out). And if you look at those names they would support anyone striking whether they were paid to or not, it’s in their DNA. Some quite interesting stuff on Tories in the Register as well. Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Health, is calling for big tax cuts. He got £150k for ‘advising’ JP Morgan in 2021. But immigration.
If the people don't like people striking, they can always go live in another country whereby strikes are banned. Theres buses, walking, cycling etc
MMMMMMMMMMMM. £150K for one Tory candidate who will be running for leader in a few months yet cannot put an argument together as opposed to £20K between 5 Labour MPs - nice bit of consistency there by you Goldie.
Don't much like either, Yorks. But since we were talking about rail strikes which are set to ruin some people's lives (see reports on youngsters not being able to get to their exam site etc), it does look like bribe money to in return for sanitising the strikes.
If rail fares are pegged to RPI rises, and are expected to go up by over 11% next year, why not rail workers wages as well?
