First Great Western - industrial action in 2015 - merged topic

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

hmmm - I'm sure they argued previously that weekend travel on seasons were 'free', and that you actually paid for travel on 5days/week. It'll be interesting to see what is actually offered, but don't be surprised if nothing is offered, especially for the bank holiday.

but

Season Ticket Holders
Train services will be running across the majority of our network and you^re likely to be able to make your planned journey. A small number of routes will be closed during the strike action, and customers with season tickets affected by these can claim compensation by emailing fgwfeedback@firstgroup.com.

seems that you need to apply if you're on a no service route

[Timmer]

I can't see why strike action is going ahead this Sunday if 'limited progress has been made'? Whilst there is no agreement yet, it sounds like this dispute will be resolved so why inconvenience thousands of passengers and lose a day's pay when it's not going to achieve anything?

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, the tone of the rhetoric has changed slightly.  I will be surprised if any more dates are called after the bank holiday weekend and can quite possibly see this Sunday being the last day of action.

[JayMac]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have taken out full page adverts in the national press today, apologising in advance for the forthcoming disruption caused by the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) strike.



I must point out that it's not my Daily Mail from which I grabbed that picture. It's Mumsy's. I feel a little dirty now having thumbed through it after I was told there was a letter from FGW in it.

[a-driver]

Yes, the tone of the rhetoric has changed slightly.  I will be surprised if any more dates are called after the bank holiday weekend and can quite possibly see this Sunday being the last day of action.

I've heard several RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) members are planning on working or have cancelled their RMT membership.  I can see this Sunday being the last day of any official action. 

[TaplowGreen]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have taken out full page adverts in the national press today, apologising in advance for the forthcoming disruption caused by the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) strike.

I must point out that it's not my Daily Mail from which I grabbed that picture. It's Mumsy's. I feel a little dirty now having thumbed through it after I was told there was a letter from FGW in it.

............that's what they all say, don't they hand them out free in most Wetherspoons? 

[broadgage]

Agree, I don't think that the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) are going to win this one, and I feel that senior RMT figures are now planning on how to re-brand defeat as an heroic victory against the wicked employers.

FACT the new trains are being built without buffets. I am opposed to this as I have already stated, but I cant foresee a buffet being retrofitted.

FACT the new trains are to be maintained by the supplier, and I cant see this legal agreement being altered to please the RMT.

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) MIGHT back down over whom controls the doors, but I doubt it, and no one outside the rail industry really cares.


I expect an alleged compromise to emerge along the lines of

1) buffets. Promise to consider fitting the AT300s with buffets. This is nothing to do with the actual dispute which is about the no buffet SETs^▸ (Super Express Train (now IET)). A promise to CONSIDER buffets on SOME future trains sounds a bit better to the brothers than "we lost. no buffet"

2)Maintenance. Better redundancy terms and more training for alternative roles.

3)Door control. A great victory for our brothers ! " We have secured from FGW an undertaking that train managers will be rostered for every new train" This undertaking has already been offered and rejected, but with a bit of spin could be made to sound like a partial victory.

[PhilWakely]

The lines we will not run a service on are:
...
^Weymouth - Westbury

Having planned to take another trip on the Wizard on the BH weekend, I guess it will not be running ??

[bobm]

If the strike goes ahead over the bank holiday weekend, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have confirmed the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) will not run.

[paul7575]

If I were Mark Hopwood, I would have been referring to the "DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)'s plans" for new stock that have been ordered for use by whoever happens to be running the franchise in future years, and First have absolutely no control over that stock.

Paul

[JayMac]

I suspect there are dealings going on in secret between the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and FGW^▸ (First Great Western) with the DfT using FGW as a shield.

[grahame]

The lines we will not run a service on are:
...
^Weymouth - Westbury

Having planned to take another trip on the Wizard on the BH weekend, I guess it will not be running ??

If the strike goes ahead over the bank holiday weekend, FGW have confirmed the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) will not run.

With my "TransWilts" hat on, I have been helping to encourage people to use the Wizard from Swindon and Chippenham - with our end of the marketing being community based (in other words away from the railway, reaching people who are new to rail or very rare users).   From when the strike dates were announced, we tuned our marketing to encouraging people to travel on or by 22nd - listing dates that were "still to come"  and saying that 22nd was the last date we were certain of.    If people have a bad experience the first time they do something, they'll remember it for years and tell their friends / communities - and a strategic decision was taken not to sell a product which had/has a serious prospect of not being delivered, to the extent that it would spoil lots of people's days out.

IF it runs on 29th and we know in advance, we may do a short, sharp campaign and have a party! ... But we won't be submitting numbers as our finest achievement, I suspect - damage already done, and damage limitation already applied.

[a-driver]

Agree, I don't think that the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) are going to win this one, and I feel that senior RMT figures are now planning on how to re-brand defeat as an heroic victory against the wicked employers.

FACT the new trains are being built without buffets. I am opposed to this as I have already stated, but I cant foresee a buffet being retrofitted.

FACT the new trains are to be maintained by the supplier, and I cant see this legal agreement being altered to please the RMT.

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) MIGHT back down over whom controls the doors, but I doubt it, and no one outside the rail industry really cares.


I expect an alleged compromise to emerge along the lines of

1) buffets. Promise to consider fitting the AT300s with buffets. This is nothing to do with the actual dispute which is about the no buffet SETs^▸ (Super Express Train (now IET)). A promise to CONSIDER buffets on SOME future trains sounds a bit better to the brothers than "we lost. no buffet"

2)Maintenance. Better redundancy terms and more training for alternative roles.

3)Door control. A great victory for our brothers ! " We have secured from FGW an undertaking that train managers will be rostered for every new train" This undertaking has already been offered and rejected, but with a bit of spin could be made to sound like a partial victory.

Basically the RMT left it far to late, this action should have taken place long before pen was put to paper although that depends on whether the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) consulted fully with the operators and the unions however, I seem to recall conversations that the DfT didn't want the unions involved.
The only thing that can really be changed is control of the doors and I don't think anyone would object if we adopted the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) method of door control thus guaranteeing a train manager on all trains. 

I still firmly believe that either FGW has its hands tied or they've been given some kind of incentive to get this through purely because there doesn't seem to be much in the way of movement from First.

 

[TaplowGreen]

........just wondering what peoples travel experiences have been today with the strike going on? Better/worse/indifferent?

[Adelante_CCT]

Seems strange striking on a Sunday.... in the middle of the holidays.... the weekend before a bank holiday.
Also as has been mentioned on another topic, not all the hsts are planned to operate on weekends/sundays anyway, and some of the ones that are normally planned are being covered by the drivers that are willing to work.
Hardly a major attempt to create as much disruption as possible.