labour's / corbyn's paymasters start to ruin Christmas for MILLIONS

piethorne

snenklehen I lived through that and remember it even now. The factory I worked in even had to hire big paraffin space heaters to try and keep us warm, and had to install two huge diesel generators - and I mean huge (the size of a single deck bus) - just to keep the machinery going (and us in a job). Horrible times.

starbuck35

allan1954 are the railways not prvt or did i miss them come back into public owed

mikewhiteoliver

swamppig Indeed. And I read in this thread that Thatcher had dismantled the unions. Were they put back together again?

acetech

mikewhiteoliver And I read in this thread that Thatcher had dismantled the unions.

Most not all

mikewhiteoliver

acetech Ah, so it's her fault for not finishing the job then 🤣

acetech

mikewhiteoliver to some most likely...lol

andyslc

Ruin Christmas for millions? Probably a bit dramatic me thinks.

anyhow, this from the RMT:

RMT Press Office:

RAIL UNION RMT has confirmed that strike action on South Western Railway starting on Monday and lasting throughout December is on after the company point-blank refused to show any serious movement whatsoever on the critical issue of passenger safety and accessibility at the platform/train interface, wrecking the efforts to broker a solution through the ACAS machinery.

RMT had set out proposals ensuring that the guard had an integral and guaranteed role in the despatch process which would have cost the company nothing but which would have guaranteed the safest method of operation. The company refused to seriously engage with the proposal, choosing instead to be wholly obstructive in the knowledge that their hard-line position would mean that the strike action goes ahead.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said:

“RMT is angry and frustrated that a set of proposals that would have guaranteed the safety-critical role of the guard at the point of despatch, and which would have cost the company absolutely nothing, have been kicked back in our faces. There is no rational explanation for the company position and we can only assume that either they or their paymasters in Government want this strike action to go ahead for politically motivated purposes.

“The union also believes that cutting the guard out of the despatch process reduces the second person on the train to little more than a passenger in the longer term which would give the company the option of axing them all together at some point down the line. Both the union and the travelling public are being set up and that stinks.

“Our action goes ahead from Monday in defence of passenger safety and accessibility and the blame for that lies wholly with SWR and their wrecking strategy. The union remains available for talks and we have a deal to solve this dispute which is cost free for SWR worked up and ready to go. The company should grab it with both hands and avoid the disruption to services their actions will unleash.”

So they (RMT) have a cost free solution and SWR refuse to budge? And that’s entirely the unions fault? Not convinced.

jeanlk

andyslc It took months for Northern Rail ( locally known as Northern Fail) to resolve a similar issue. Perhaps companies should learn from each other & respect the need for passenger safety!

basil1921

snenklehen '... when the last real Labour government were in power. It sounded fantastic, ... the 3 day week...'

I'm afraid your uncle is either a liar or suffers from a faulty memory. The Three day week was under Heath's government. Heath, you may remember, was a Tory. The result of Heath's unnecessary three day week was that the electorate kicked him out of office.

snenklehen

basil1921 neither I'm afraid, labour were in power between 1974 and 1979 and the winter of discontent was 1978/79

James Callaghan was prime minister during that time, and Harold Wilson before that.

You may be confusing the 73 Arab oil crisis and measures put in place then coupled with miners strikes? The 74 to 79 left wing union enslaved governments were totally different, and self imposed hell, ending with the winter of discontent in 78/79 and the Thatcher government.

extreme_one

snenklehen basil1921

I was too young to remember The Three Day Week but apparently:

The Three-Day Week was one of several measures introduced in the United Kingdom by the Conservative government to conserve electricity, the generation of which was severely restricted owing to industrial action by coal miners. The effect was that from 1 January until 7 March 1974 (also the same month the 1973–74 oil crisis ended) commercial users of electricity were limited to three specified consecutive days' consumption each week and prohibited from working longer hours on those days. Services deemed essential (e.g. hospitals, supermarkets and newspaper printing presses) were exempt. Television companies were required to cease broadcasting at 10.30 pm during the crisis to conserve electricity, although the restrictions were dropped after a general election was called.

Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath KG MBE served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974

Seems @basil1921 was correct.

123kingarthur

piethorne I hope that the bosses of this rail company realise it is their fault cancelling the Guards on trains

basil1921

snenklehen 'neither I'm afraid, labour were in power between 1974 and 1979 and the winter of discontent was 1978/79'

You're confusing the three day week with the winter of discontent. Easily done if you don't now any political hstory.

mikewhiteoliver

extreme_one Yes, definitely looks like an Uncle Albert moment 😆

snenklehen

extreme_one seems you didn't read my reply where I referred to the oil crisis of 73/74

Cilla Black moment

kate1028

I think some of you may be getting confused - the 3 day week and the Winter of discontent were two different events happening at different times under different governments - the first in 1974, the second in 1979.

baconbutty

I want guards on trains and if it takes a strike to keep them then I support it.

nerrin

So let me get this straight - the current dispute and the 3 day week (Tory governments) were Labour's fault and the Winter of Discontent (Labour government) was also Labour's fault. This is pure genius

pete2009

Feel for all those who rely on the trains.
Massive fares and a rubbish service.

123kingarthur

I can remember life under Labour too I felt they enjoyed making things worse for us all

baconbutty

123kingarthur Yeah the creation of the NHS and building 150k council houses a year after the second world war made things worse for us all 🙄 Don't you want guards on trains now ?

techiebloke

I understand why the man or woman on the ground feels they have little choice but unfortunately striking these days tends to just force employers to work around the problem and ultimately the jobs still go/the policy gets imposed anyway (I've both seen this happen and been subject to it myself though I have never withdrawn my labour because of the above).

Regarding this policy about guards (who should be on trains so the driver isn't distracted) it will probably come full circle but unfortunately something bad will have to happen followed by a public enquiry etc before it does.

tradertall

This thread doesn't seem to be going the way the OP expected?