Railways, Underground and Unions

[hovis]

Just reading this morning that the British army is expected to drop into roles where people will be on strike over Xmas. High ranking officials have stated that it is wrong. They have gone on record and said “ a soldier earns £22k a year, he is expected to cancel his Xmas and cover for someone who has asked for a rise of 19%, that person already earns more than a private soldier. Furthermore for the last 10 years a soldier has had a pay rise each year which has been less than inflation”.
For me, That last sentence sums up even more where the underlying problem lays. For a decade, the NHS, ambulance, border control, firemen etc etc have seen cuts to there budgets and services coupled with less than inflation pay rises. The same as a soldier. The latest inflation figures have tipped people over the edge.
The latest idea is to make striking illegal. That is not the answer to the problem.

Like I said before. 16 years ago a firefighter earnt 27/28k. Today its 30/31k. That's about 0.7%per year? My maths is shaky. After 12 years of austerity we where told they'd make up for it. 6 years out of austerity "we haven't got any money" is an excuse that's wearing thin. This is identical throughout most of the public sector. Enough is enough and now the government is going to see just how passionate we are about it

They find millions and millions when they need to. How much is it costing to put "illegal" immigrants into nice hotels. The list could go on.

 

[clubchamp98]

Just reading this morning that the British army is expected to drop into roles where people will be on strike over Xmas. High ranking officials have stated that it is wrong. They have gone on record and said “ a soldier earns £22k a year, he is expected to cancel his Xmas and cover for someone who has asked for a rise of 19%, that person already earns more than a private soldier. Furthermore for the last 10 years a soldier has had a pay rise each year which has been less than inflation”.
For me, That last sentence sums up even more where the underlying problem lays. For a decade, the NHS, ambulance, border control, firemen etc etc have seen cuts to there budgets and services coupled with less than inflation pay rises. The same as a soldier. The latest inflation figures have tipped people over the edge.
The latest idea is to make striking illegal. That is not the answer to the problem.

Yes this has been happening for years .
Paying shareholders but not the workers!
It’s come to a head now and is a big problem.
These soldiers are going to be mega talented to replace everyone.
Who is going to do their roles while they do everyone else’s ?

 

[hovis]

Yes this has been happening for years .
Paying shareholders but not the workers!
It’s come to a head now and is a big problem.
These soldiers are going to be mega talented to replace everyone.
Who is going to do their roles while they do everyone else’s ?

I personally think after this round of strikes they'll be a national one. They can't do all of the public sectors jobs.

 

[Deleted member 29109]

Just reading this morning that the British army is expected to drop into roles where people will be on strike over Xmas. High ranking officials have stated that it is wrong. They have gone on record and said “ a soldier earns £22k a year, he is expected to cancel his Xmas and cover for someone who has asked for a rise of 19%, that person already earns more than a private soldier. Furthermore for the last 10 years a soldier has had a pay rise each year which has been less than inflation”.
For me, That last sentence sums up even more where the underlying problem lays. For a decade, the NHS, ambulance, border control, firemen etc etc have seen cuts to there budgets and services coupled with less than inflation pay rises. The same as a soldier. The latest inflation figures have tipped people over the edge.
The latest idea is to make striking illegal. That is not the answer to the problem.

Let’s hope the army are brought in. We don’t want people to miss their Christmas parties now do we ?

 

[Deleted member 21784]

Just reading this morning that the British army is expected to drop into roles where people will be on strike over Xmas. High ranking officials have stated that it is wrong. They have gone on record and said “ a soldier earns £22k a year, he is expected to cancel his Xmas and cover for someone who has asked for a rise of 19%, that person already earns more than a private soldier. Furthermore for the last 10 years a soldier has had a pay rise each year which has been less than inflation”.
For me, That last sentence sums up even more where the underlying problem lays. For a decade, the NHS, ambulance, border control, firemen etc etc have seen cuts to there budgets and services coupled with less than inflation pay rises. The same as a soldier. The latest inflation figures have tipped people over the edge.
The latest idea is to make striking illegal. That is not the answer to the problem.

So they make illegal

Strike goes ahead

You sacking them all at once on mass? Excellent now we have no staff

Or the classic all go sick at once. Can't prove your not sick , can't sack you for it ...

Edit , action short of a strike

Work to rule. Man that shuts down so much because how many rules are bent every day to help patients and customers and keep public services running

I mean I'm suppose to have 15 min break from my pc every hour legally .. haven't ever had one. And I have what 15 computer screens in front of me

So every hour everyone goes for a break ..

It's just a stupid idea.. so many ways you can effect people if they push this agenda

 

[Deleted member 21784]

I personally think after this round of strikes they'll be a national one. They can't do all of the public sectors jobs.

The general strike talk is bubbling

I reckon new year if this isn't sorted it will come.

 

[hovis]

The general strike talk is bubbling

I reckon new year if this isn't sorted it will come.

100%

 

[Deleted member 21784]

100%

Work to rule indefinitely... Imagine no shift swapping with certain profession's .. good luck covering

Lot of public service good running is done by good will

Remove that and it's crumbles

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Just reading this morning that the British army is expected to drop into roles where people will be on strike over Xmas. High ranking officials have stated that it is wrong. They have gone on record and said “ a soldier earns £22k a year, he is expected to cancel his Xmas and cover for someone who has asked for a rise of 19%, that person already earns more than a private soldier. Furthermore for the last 10 years a soldier has had a pay rise each year which has been less than inflation”.
For me, That last sentence sums up even more where the underlying problem lays. For a decade, the NHS, ambulance, border control, firemen etc etc have seen cuts to there budgets and services coupled with less than inflation pay rises. The same as a soldier. The latest inflation figures have tipped people over the edge.
The latest idea is to make striking illegal. That is not the answer to the problem.

That’s the same when we had to cover for the Firemen mid 00’s when we rolled out the Green Goddess’s- most of the guys on a lot less than fireman and no pay rise for years for any of us at the time

At one stage it got quite heated when we were having to go out on call and they were all stood outside giving us grief and then also making sure that we didn’t use their beds or pool tables etc

Like I said before. 16 years ago a firefighter earnt 27/28k. Today it’s 30/31k. That's about 0.7%per year? My maths is shaky. After 12 years of austerity we were told they'd make up for it. 6 years out of austerity "we haven't got any money" is an excuse that's wearing thin. This is identical throughout most of the public sector. Enough is enough and now the government is going to see just how passionate we are about it

They find millions and millions when they need to. How much is it costing to put "illegal" immigrants into nice hotels. The list could go on.

They certainly got a far better deal than any of the military guys who didn’t get any sniff of a pay rise for years

 

[hovis]

Work to rule indefinitely... Imagine no shift swapping with certain profession's .. good luck covering

Lot of public service good running is done by good will

Remove that and it's crumbles

We've just been told this morning that overtime is now cancelled. Usually we ride 5 on a fire engine. If someone calls on sick we get another firefighter in on single rate overtime. From Monday onwards if someone calls in sick we will just ride with 4. If a second person calls in sick putting us on 3 then we borrow a fire fighter from the next station putting us both on 4.

In other words. I've just lost 3k off my salary and the local community will get a a fire engine with not enough staff to perform a safe and timely rescue. We've been told we'll just have to wait for backup. Nearest "backup" from my station is 25 minutes on blue lights. Good luck to you all

 

[hovis]

That’s the same when we had to cover for the Firemen mid 00’s when we rolled out the Green Goddess’s- most of the guys on a lot less than fireman and no pay rise for years for any of us at the time

At one stage it got quite heated when we were having to go out on call and they were all stood outside giving us grief and then also making sure that we didn’t use their beds or pool tables etc




They certainly got a far better deal than any of the military guys who didn’t get any sniff of a pay rise for years

Arh, the old argument of "there is always someone worse off".
Armed forces should do something about it then. I'd even support them because they deserve it. I certainly wouldn't find an occupation that's worse off than them and tell them to think themselves lucky

 

[Lord Tyrion]

We've just been told this morning that overtime is now cancelled. Usually we ride 5 on a fire engine. If someone calls on sick we get another firefighter in on single rate overtime. From Monday onwards if someone calls in sick we will just ride with 4. If a second person calls in sick putting us on 3 then we borrow a fire fighter from the next station putting us both on 4.

In other words. I've just lost 3k off my salary and the local community will get a a fire engine with not enough staff to perform a safe and timely rescue. We've been told we'll just have to wait for backup. Nearest "backup" from my station is 25 minutes on blue lights. Good luck to you all

Was the overtime cancelled by the Fire Service or by withdrawl of overtime by the union / members? (not looking for an argy, genuine question)

 

[Deleted member 21784]

We've just been told this morning that overtime is now cancelled. Usually we ride 5 on a fire engine. If someone calls on sick we get another firefighter in on single rate overtime. From Monday onwards if someone calls in sick we will just ride with 4. If a second person calls in sick putting us on 3 then we borrow a fire fighter from the next station putting us both on 4.

In other words. I've just lost 3k off my salary and the local community will get a a fire engine with not enough staff to perform a safe and timely rescue. We've been told we'll just have to wait for backup. Nearest "backup" from my station is 25 minutes on blue lights. Good luck to you all

If they cancelled our overtime heads would roll (not ours) because litterally wouldn't be able to run it's mental

4 down ATM through vacancy, another from Jan as her promotion is finally announced after 2 years waiting

2 retiring in April

That's 7 down out of 39

We have 3 trainees we hope for 50% pass rate so 1 maybe 2 at a push

6 more in new year being pushed through at 50% passrate so that's hopefully 4/5 in total by 2024 mid way through

Still not fully staffed

Promotion campaign re opens soon, can bet 2 at least will get it we always get a couple from us lot get it due to experience

 

[Deleted member 31467]

Like I said before. 16 years ago a firefighter earnt 27/28k. Today its 30/31k. That's about 0.7%per year? My maths is shaky. After 12 years of austerity we where told they'd make up for it. 6 years out of austerity "we haven't got any money" is an excuse that's wearing thin. This is identical throughout most of the public sector. Enough is enough and now the government is going to see just how passionate we are about it

They find millions and millions when they need to. How much is it costing to put "illegal" immigrants into nice hotels. The list could go on.

Wow, this puts into perspective how greedy the RMT is.

 

[hovis]

Was the overtime cancelled by the Fire Service or by withdrawl of overtime by the union / members? (not looking for an argy, genuine question)

It was cancelled by our chief. We used to run with 7 on our watch but 5 on the fire engine. This was because there would always be one or two away on courses, leave or detached to other stations to plug gaps.
They busted us down to 6 about 3 years ago and said " don't worry because this will be good for you lot as they'll be loads of overtime for you all".
It came with one condition. Said overtime would only be paid at single rate. Apparently it was still cheaper to pay the remaining firefighters to do the extra work than it was to employ a 7th person (due to oncosts).
We basically built a system that relied on overtime. The union warned us against it but people needed the money.

Our chief has now said that overtime is cancelled and we'll just ride 4. This is the only way he can make the cuts he needs to due to cuts in his budget from central government. Its a tragic situation

Scary thing is, 16 years ago we ran with 15 per watch, two fire engines comprising of
Ladder with 5
Pump ladder with 4
Alp (massive ladder you see in the movies) with 2

Now we're on 5 ? and the portion of your Council tax that pays for the fire service has gone up ???

 

[Deleted member 21784]

Wow, this puts into perspective how greedy the RMT is.

Don't believe everything you read

Just goes to show how badly treated the emergency service and armed forces are. They need everyone's support

 

[Deleted member 21784]

It was cancelled by our chief. We used to run with 7 on our watch but 5 on the fire engine. This was because there would always be one or two away on courses, leave or detached to other stations to plug gaps.
They busted us down to 6 about 3 years ago and said " don't worry because this will be good for you lot as they'll be loads of overtime for you all".
It came with one condition. Said overtime would only be paid at single rate. Apparently it was still cheaper to pay the remaining firefighters to do the extra work than it was to employ a 7th person (due to oncosts).
We basically built a system that relied on overtime. The union warned us against it but people needed the money.

Our chief has now said that overtime is cancelled and we'll just ride 4. This is the only way he can make the cuts he needs to due to cuts in his budget from central government. Its a tragic situation

Scary thing is, 16 years ago we ran with 15 per watch, two fire engines comprising of
Ladder with 5
Pump ladder with 4
Alp (massive ladder you see in the movies) with 2

Now we're on 5 ? and the portion of your Council tax that pays for the fire service has gone up ???

Yes it's cheaper to run on overtime than paying national insure and pension for another member of.full time staff

 

[hovis]

Don't believe everything you read

Just goes to show how badly treated the emergency service and armed forces are. They need everyone's support

Especially the armed service. I think the government take advantage of them as the majority are young impressionable people. Perhaps that's why they leave after a few years

 

[Deleted member 21784]

Especially the armed service. I think the government take advantage of them as the majority are young impressionable people. Perhaps that's why they leave after a few years

I can't say too much without the P word but it is disgusting how they are treated

I go back to my cpi rises for all public sector for life.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Arh, the old argument of "there is always someone worse off".
Armed forces should do something about it then. I'd even support them because they deserve it. I certainly wouldn't find an occupation that's worse off than them and tell them to think themselves lucky

The Armed forces can’t do anything beyond leaving , they can’t strike , down tools , get someone else to do their job for them

I wonder where all this extra money is going to come from to pay for all these demands