London Tube Strikes

This must be getting worrying. The tube map app which has quietly been on my phone for years has issued its first ever pop up message about the next couple of days travel.
Good luck to any board members getting around the capital.

I just got home. I sincerely hope they all get replaced by robots.

It took over two hours each way. In the rain. Even with buses. I can't afford to drop £40-£50 each way on an uber...

I wouldn't mind if they went on strike every few years or something, but the frequency that they DO strike means they know they have the city in a choke hold. And it's the workers who HAVE to be out there getting to their physical place of work: nurses, shop assistants, waiters, cleaners etc who pay the price.

Even if you manage to force your way onto a packed bus (many of which are so crowded they don't even stop to let anyone on), you're in gridlock traffic for hours.

It's too much. We need to stop them somehow. It's not fair that they do this to us. They are on more money than most and get more holiday than most. We've all faced cuts and adjustments to our jobs as a result of a pandemic, but we're all out there adapting to and getting on with it.

A few months ago I signed a petition to bring back the night tube to give Londoners, especially women, a safe and affordable way to get home after hours. Drivers went on strike against it and will continue to do so until June I think? It is beyond the pale.

This morning was fun. No strike today but no trains at all first thing so only choice to get to work was taxi (Uber). Usual journey price £12. This morning £30!!!
Just like the theatre dynamic pricing.

How can you say that TFL staff "don't have actual justifiable concerns" when you previously said that you don't know why this strike is happening and don't care enough to find out?

As a union member: Strikes really do not happen for no reason. Every day on strike has huge repercussions, both professionally and personally. Why not do the most rudimental reading and research into why this is happening and base your opinion on that rather than deciding that you don't support the strikers in advance?

And I would point out that "others have it worse" is a reason to support the others who have it worse, not condemn those with the power and strength to get better deals. Why not be angry at those who treat and pay nurses badly rather than the tube workers?

I didn't ask "why are you angry", so I'm really not entirely sure why you're listing out the consequences of the strikes, which are apparent, obvious and awful.

So many falsehoods in that post, namely the implication that negotiations have not already happened, "they strike all the time", "they strike against everything" and the apparent belief that it's the tube drivers leading this particular action and I do not have the time or inclination to go through them all. I invite you, as I did Poster J, to do some actual research and reading into this situation.

And there will be nobody more aware of the negative impact of these strikes, and subsequent public opinion and interaction, than the workers themselves. I don't know if you have ever been part of a union or on strike yourself, but all I can do is assure you once again that these decisions are never taken lightly.

I do think we need to be careful not to tar all Tube workers with the same brush as not all of them are part of the RMT who are the ones striking.

I'm sorry, but if negotiations are breaking down to the point that the workers of ANY company are striking more than once a year, then neither side is particularly skilled in that department.

If the "last resort" is used with such frequency, it begins to look less like a last resort, and more like a first point of call to those on the outside.

Striking more than once a year (even just once is a lot) points to a major failure on both sides of the argument. It is just used particularly often by those who are members of unions for tube workers because they know they can hold a city to ransom.

A handy list of recent RMT action. I'm struggling to see any strikes about pay

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_strikes

Sounds like my station. Just looking at their phones. I once had a person push right behind me to get through the barrier without a ticket. Went to the TFL guy in the box and asked him why he didn't do anything about it. He told me "it's not my job" and said that I should have challenged him myself if I was unhappy. I asked him what his job was then and he told me "customer service". £34,000 to looknat your phone all day. Sign me up!

Yes that's happened to me too. I now walk through the barriers deliberately slowly to stop it happening.

Stratford is just as bad - groups of staff members standing around chatting and doing nothing else! It was particularly infuriating during the pandemic seeing how many of them were incapable of complying with their own employer's mask rules.

If I saw anything to make me feel they are in any way short changed for the job they do, I might have some sympathy for the strikes, but that just isn't the reality.

I'm a member of a union and have gone on strike in the past (though one time I didn't go on strike when I disagreed with the reason), so I like to think I'm open minded about these things.

Tube strikes do seem to be used as a planned regular reminder that it's something they can and will do. I have more sympathy with a strike to maintain posts, though I take the point that many of those currently in the role aren't doing a good job of showing their value.

I saw someone earlier claim that only right-wingers would object to tube strikes, or point out that the drivers earn (much) more than nurses. Yes, nurses should earn more too, but I wonder what kind of pay rise tube drivers would expect to keep up with the extra tax demands should we decide to increase the salary of nurses, teachers and police officers to that of tube drivers?

Part of me does think 'fair play', they've made a case for better pay, but then I remember that they restrict who can apply for jobs, which seems to be a tactic to keep supply low as an excuse to demand higher wages. I've heard from doctors that they think their own professional exams to be eligible to become a consultant are made artificially hard to limit supply to match the jobs available for the same reason, but at least there you can argue there's benefit to the end user. 

With more people able to work from home I'll be interested to see how that alters the balance of power. I have a friend who needed to go into work, so left extra early expecting massive delays, but just got into work early without much fuss.