SOT wrote:
jim wrote:
It's because of Bob Crow that the tube drivers get such good money.
They perhaps the only union left that are in a position to stop London at the drop of a hat. And while I have rarely been a support of Crow and crew, and have found them to be astonishing greedy at times, if I was a LU train driver facing a similar prospect of ultimately losing my job, but in a strong industrial action position to stop it happening, I would be the first man on the picket line. Wouldn't you?
You have a mortgage, a young family and a lifetime of commitments. Alternatively, you have a skill-set which is non transferable and are approaching 40/45 year old with no real prospect of re employment at anything like the same salary. You managers ask you to support trials of a robot that will make you redundant.
Do you say
A) "No problem boss, what can I do?" or
B) "Not on your life matey, I will do everything in my power to keep a roof over my family and food on their plates".
I will look forward to reading your answers.........
Im with you on this one SOT. Whilst Bob Crowe has frequently overstepped the mark in calling strikes, he is ultimately doing what he was voted in to do by the union membership. IE: Protect THEIR interests and get the best deal possible. Its what CEO's of private companies do all the time, but with the emphasis on maximising profits and dividends to shareholders, often at the expense of poorly paid employees at the bottom of the ladder. You need look no further than the major supermarket chains for evidence of this.
I just don't understand the apparent jealousy of some folk who seem to begrudge the 'average working man/woman' a DECENT LIVING WAGE. What is so wrong with that aspiration, is that not something we should all aspire to, is that not the driving force behind the whole capitalist system ?
Working as I do ( or rather did ) for a major company, I have witnessed this constant downward drive towards the lowest wage possible, and ever worsening working terms and conditions for a number of years now and its not a pretty sight. Staff morale drops through the floor, and that is often reflected in the level of service provided to the customer at the sharp end. Its a downward spiral that ultimately does no-one any good.
If the Tube drivers are on £48k a year, good luck to them I say. They are responsible for the safe transportation of millions of passengers a year, on one of the worlds oldest and most overcrowded systems imagineable. Would you feel as safe at the hands of a driverless, computer controlled train deep underground ? I know I wouldn't.
Moley