Train strike on opening day of the season

[Citizen's Nephew]

Are rail workers really overpaid? Why shouldn't they be paid the wages they are on?
Or do their wages look over inflated compared to nurses, police, firemen, teachers etc who have not had a payrise for 10years or more.
With the majority of these skilled profession's now deciding to leave their industry's and join the railway.
They should be on the same or if not more instead of pointing the finger and 'saying they shouldn't be on that much money'
So why shouldn't they be paid what they have negotiated over the years with more often selling terms and conditions to get what they are earning these days.
So without comparing them to other industries, Why are they on too much money?

Excellent post and excellent question. I posted recently, there's no such thing as an unskilled worker. It's a derogatory term and should be confined to the classist dustbin. The press and our masters (doffs cap) demonise essential workers until they can't get their Bollinger delivered or the bottle removed from their arse.

[blue matt]

Excellent post and excellent question. I posted recently, there's no such thing as an unskilled worker. It's a derogatory term and should be confined to the classist dustbin. The press and our masters (doffs cap) demonise essential workers until they can't get their Bollinger delivered or the bottle removed from their arse.

a statement that I have always agreed with, from a building trade background, it makes no difference if you are a site agent running the job or a labourer or anywhere in-between, they are all vital to the job, when I was doing my carpenters apprenticeship, occasionally I was asked to help the labourers ( be it mixing muck, carrying materials around the site etc etc, of course at first I moaned and said " Im training to be a skilled tradesman, I dont need this ", the foreman ( who was a great guy and I always respected his opinion ) said to me " if you show the labourers you are one of them, they will always help you ", he was right, as a 3rd yr apprentice I was doing the work of a Chippie, but always had people helping me fetch and carry stuff without question, other guys who had just joined would often have to fetch stuff or would wait ages for it from the labourers

I had carried that through my building career, its custom for the site agent to have his/her own cabin / office, of course the times I was site agent I did, after all I had a desk and all the paperwork that went with it, but I would much prefer to be in the mess cabin with the workers ( I guess I thought I might be with them on the next job, so didnt want to act the big one )

no-one in life is unskilled, they all have a purpose, they might not have found it yet though

[Eric Cartman]

Basic economics Doucus. You pay every nurse twice as much then it costs the NHS billions more. That means more borrowing and repayment costs, or more tax out of your pocket, which means you spend less on goods, which means companies lay off people supplying those goods which means greater welfare payments..and the circle goes on.

Everyone wants everyone to be paid more, but it has to be done sustainably, and if you just do it across the board then you gain nothing as costs will match it.

The irony on the train strikes, is that you have been one of the most vocal keen to work from home on those debates, and thats what is decimating the rail industry.

Perhaps you should look at your own actions, first?

So somebody somewhere needs to decide what is the 'sustainable' rate at which we can afford to increase wages? This doesn't sound like capitalism to me.

As far as I can see, the end game is that very highly paid people get away with sucking up wealth and creating inequality and the excuse is 'market forces'. Yet when a worker group proves that they are very much in demand by striking, they are 'bringing the country to its knees', something doesn't add up here.

[Vindec]

So somebody somewhere needs to decide what is the 'sustainable' rate at which we can afford to increase wages? This doesn't sound like capitalism to me.

As far as I can see, the end game is that very highly paid people get away with sucking up wealth and creating inequality and the excuse is 'market forces'. Yet when a worker group proves that they are very much in demand by striking, they are 'bringing the country to its knees', something doesn't add up here.

Surely the reason is because there are very many more workers than bosses meaning that the effect any rises the greedy senior executives award themselves have no bearing on inflation when even small rises by tens of thousands of workers do have an affect.

[Eric Cartman]

Surely the reason is because there are very many more workers than bosses meaning that the effect any rises the greedy senior executives award themselves have no bearing on inflation when even small rises by tens of thousands of workers do have an affect.

Inflation is just the latest excuse. I earn above the average wage in the South East of England and this winter I will probably be living entirely paycheck to paycheck. I keep thinking about those on less money, with dependants, without family to help them if shit hit the fan. We are heading for a complete disaster and still everybody is reaching for a reason to hate train drivers because they earn a bit more than them

It's nuts that anybody is still believing the "we're all in this together" bs and that is the reason why I support everybody's right to strike, I don't care if you earn more than me, more than a nurse, less than a firefighter, couldn't give a shit.

As for the alternative posted above, it sounds completely dystopian, the rich take what ever they want whilst everyone else thanks their lucky stars for that 'sustainable' real terms pay cut every year.