The Tube Drivers Strike.

My only actual experience of a union was in Oz, where it was compulsory to be a member. To my knowledge the Union Leader did not call any strike in the Maritime unions, it went on a show of hands. This is the way any union should be run. The union leaders who did otherwise had bully boys to enforce their doctrine. There were a lot of hard men in the Union , but there were also just as hard men who were not union delegates. A union is just that, the same as politics it is the will of the public the same as in the union it is the members. We can all blame Joe Bloggs for calling out a membership on strike, he can only do that if he has a majority who want to do so. JS

I would like to ask one question with regard to the train drivers strike, where are we all getting our information from ?, i suspect most of us from the newspapers, which is suspect, or government spokesmen, again suspect ,. I would love to hear from the train driver himself, not the Union Rep. I know from my experience no man throws wages away when he has wife, kids and mortgages etc. I suspect if we spoke to the driver himself we might gain a better insight. Just my opinion KT

Des #80 it is very different here in Victoria. The CFMEU hold all the big companies to ransom. We had a desal plant built here under the last Labor state gov. Over time by 18 months and over budget by almost 1 billion. Good friend of ours had her son there as an electrician, he was earning about $1,000 per day. $80 per hour plus allowances. The union screwed the builder to make sure the allowances were paid tax free. In the same time WA built two for less money and in les time.

Next week we will have a pubic transport strike here, the union say that the profit the company makes should give to the employees.

The company is an overseas one and could pull out next year at the end of the contract.

The head of London Transport and the Head of one of the Unions involved (TGWU) have been interviewed on one of the Sunday political shows.
According to London Transport they were close to getting agreement on the new working schedules and pay then yesterday? one of the unions decided to have two more 24 hour strikes.
The Union guy went on and on about Transport for London being badgered by Boris Johnson behind the scenes which transport for London deny.
The Union guy was going on about work/life environment. At present London Transport workers do one Sunday in every 47 days and under the new 7 day working system they would have to do 54 Sundays every 114 days (if my hearing was correct). This would not include their annual holidays.
Bless their little cotton picking socks eh! Who would not give amongst us to have had £50k plus that sort of working rota. Apparently the union think that it is vital that there workers have plenty of Sundays clear in order to maintain family life, get sufficient rest/attended church/go to B and Q/wash and polish their cars/decorate the front room/prune their rose bushes etc. etc. (sorry a bit of sarcasm their).
Surely with London being the city it is it needs a 7 day working Underground?
OOOp North int real world our Metro system runs a Sunday service and has done since its inauguration.
rgds
JA

The same here as in Oz, the unions say all profits should be given to the employees, where on earth do they think the money for future investment will come from, will they also be willing to support the company with contributions if the company makes a loss, of course they will!!!

millions use the underground every day if you pass down the money the driver gets would be pennies per hundred so the rail bosses will jack the cost up by a couple of pounds per head so actually the company will make money not loose any and blame will go on the unions.. jp

Thank the Big Boss above that I managed to skimp and save on a at times a beggars stipend . Retired and have no debts, only having to pay out of this world expenses for electricity and gas an rates and food which go up frequently. One never stops paying someone in this world for the privilege of living. Honesty and morals are a thing of yesteryear, and we all live in a world given to pleasure and screwing someone metaphorically. What wars were ever fought for I fail to see the reasoning as finish up in the end in the same position screwed usually by your own side. As I said when first the US and others gave air power and backing to conflicts in the middle east, that it would take troops on the ground to solve, their own troops apparently aren't up to the job. I would tell them to go and get screwed and give no support whatsoever, they certainly don't deserve the loss of British lives. Let also those big companies supplying the same with armaments go on strike, they should be shut down period. JS

john honesty and morals ?? troops coming home with pieces missing in mind and body seriously injured by ordinance made in this country and America given to factions in the middle east when fighting the Russians now being used on our own and enough to keep them armed for years to come.. jp

the unions old and new are are very very wealthy ..with millions if not billions sitting in bank accounts why not invest in some businness opportunities.......and i dont mean the share markets.....were money is being accrued by the unions arch enemy the so called capitalist .....but in jobs in which they can turnthe profit into jobs for there so called underpaid overworked members ....but i think perhaps the they would not last long in a world were invention and a goood dose of common sense would be required...you cannot bite the hand that feeds you with bully boy tactics .....the slow demise of the unions is happening thank god and a man will be his self .......not a number paying his dues to pay some big gob ....usually to fat to do anything except reach the daily trough......i have only been in a union because i could not work if i didnt belong ...in all honesty i have never met a shop steward or a union man with a brain.....but then such is life....regards cappy ......a freeman

Getting away from downtrodden tube drivers for a while, construction workers on the new Panama canal (93% complete) have gone on strike asking for more money, their unions state it is the only opportune moment they will have as they know every day lost will cost the canal company millions and they will never be in a stronger position, however the canal company will not lose out, it is the workers own company that will go down the pan, as the canal company have a non performance clause in the canal project so workers may be shooting themselves in the foot.

Talking about shooting themselves in the foot a particular traffic warden has given a first responder's ambulance three parking tickets this year, which the ambulance driver has had to pay out of his own pocket, lets hope that the traffic warden never needs a first responder.

Political correctness you couldn't make up, 10 prisoners have escaped from a UK jail, including four murderers, police have refused to name them or give descriptions as it would infringe their right to privacy

I am now going for a lie down, don't know whether I'm going to laugh or cry