Labour Shadow Transport Minister sacked from his role for joining a picket line and supporting the rail workers. Starmer is destroying everything that Labour has ever stood for. ****.
We have to be pragmatic. If labour do not win the next election we will have this bunch of Tory Tossers for another 5 years. We have to capture the middle ground. You may have hated Blair but he kept the Tories out. Labour can improve the lot of working people but not by shooting itself in the foot. First it has to be elected.
Interesting that the media have reported it as such, given that Labour have stated this wasn't the reason he was sacked.
Let the lazy bastards starve. Working people get paid too much and don't want to work. We left the EU so that we could trash their pay and conditions and so far the Tories are being very successful. You should be allowed to watch your football match and not give a **** about their lives.
Oh don't be so dramatic. Pretty much every low to middle paid worker has suffered from the cost of living crisis. The majority of them don't have a union that tells them to go on strike every other month. And train drivers get decent pay so they're not going to starve. Anyway, this is getting off topic.
Although in fairness it should be pointed out that the RMT leadership advised it's members to vote Leave in the EU referendum. So while Mick Lynch is an excellent Union leader, I'm happy for him to stick with job he already has. Which is just as well because I doubt he has any parliamentary ambitions.
Think you might like to read a little bit about this Tom before you get so dramatic yourself. Without unions protecting the “working man”, everyone would be in an even more difficult situation. Strike action is not (despite what Shapps tells you) a militant action, but the last resort when all else has failed. Sadly, the media and government will spin this to try to get the voter to think the unions are at fault, when the dividends and profits and increasing ……. off topic? Yeah - but, imo, more important than any football match
I've moved this discussion to the Politics thread to avoid clogging up a football thread with this stuff! TBH both sides are at fault (as is often the case in disputes). Neither side is willing to meet the other halfway. I just think that striking this often isn't going to solve anything.
It’s interesting that the rail companies which have been allowed to meet the union and discuss have been able to come to a compromise. Sadly, Shapps and this car crash of a government are now out to demonise the unions in order to cover up their inability to actually run the country effectively and will not get involved. The more I look at the RMT requests and the incredible increase in shareholders dividends and pay for senior management, the more militant I become. Sadly, the way things are going and with the 2 losers fighting each other for the PM position, there may have to be something like a general strike to shake the British voter from their stupor and get them to ignore what the right wing press tell them, so we can actually get a government who gives a toss for anyone other than the super rich.
And we all tolerate it because? I am not some avid Union man, but it is clear that the wage repression in this country is unsustainable and it is time to push back before it collapses our economy and permanently damages living standards in the U.K. Also if someone corrects me fair enough as I’m typing in a rush, but this strike isn’t related to train drivers pay in particular, it is to do with fighting compulsory redundancy and between 0-4% pay offers across the board including for lower paid roles. Fair enough others aren’t getting offered that, but it isn’t a competition and all employers who don’t offer reasonable pay rises when recording profits should have their feet held to the fire in these times. I can have a bit more understanding with sectors and employers that are struggling to operate.
It’s not policy because the RMT is a Trades Union representing railway operatives in the workplace. When unions overstep that specific purpose and become directly involved in politics - and there were many incidences of this in the 70s tbf - they generally end up failing their members. As an RMT member, I did take exception to being advised how to vote in a referendum; but I will take my Union’s advice on how to vote in a strike ballot. Shoemaker, stick to thy last, as the saying goes
Good, they get my full support even though I had to change travel plans at some cost cutting my visit short to be sure of getting back to the Netherlands on the Eurostar last month and affects summer travel plans. It's not just about pay that's far to simplistic. The companies are trying to impose changes to working practises, pensions, job cuts as well as pay. It's worth listening to what Mick Lynch has to say. It's not just the rail workers, lawyers and barristers, teachers, doctors and nurses, telecoms, airport staff, buses, emergency services, the bin men and more. It won't just be strikes, many services we take for granted rely on overtime and if a work to rule is combined with refusing to work OT it has a huge effect. There's also big problems for recruitment and retention in the public sector with big pay rises in the private sector on offer. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/which-british-workers-are-heading-industrial-action-2022-07-21/ https://www.ft.com/content/d5afcda3-c8b4-4326-8e1e-f6b93c673c33
This is about far more than pay well it is for Openreach . I am still in touch with openreach people , and I’m glad I left when I did . Open reach are a good employer with good release packages, so god knows what other major employers must be like
I'm glad I got out of Royal Mail when I did. They've had the arse out of the service since privatisation.
