Railway staff unions industrial and strike action - 2023

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

Finally, an offer (still technically ‘unofficial’ I believe), has been made to the driving grade.

https://media.raildeliverygroup.com/news/the-rail-industry-makes-offer-to-aslef-to-drive-up-performance-for-passengers#

As a first offer I doubt it will be offered to the membership or accepted but it is something at least.  And it probably won’t take too much more as quite cleverly it doesn’t add Sunday’s into the working week and with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) at least that means the Sunday situation only really affects HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) drivers who are outnumbered by GWR grade ones.  Not sure what the picture is nationally though?

[GBM]

Lovely article by Roger French today -
https://busandtrainuser.com/2023/01/07/whos-running-the-railway/
Listening to Mark Harper, Secretary of State for Transport and Mick Lynch, General Secretary of the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) doing the media rounds during this week’s strikes brought home the dysfunctional state of Britain’s railways. There seems no hope of an early resolution to the current industrial disputes while a state of paralysis continues with no one admitting to being in charge of the railway and taking responsibility.
(Continues).........

{Edit to correct Rogers surname - apologies}

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[TaplowGreen]

Finally, an offer (still technically ‘unofficial’ I believe), has been made to the driving grade.

https://media.raildeliverygroup.com/news/the-rail-industry-makes-offer-to-aslef-to-drive-up-performance-for-passengers#

As a first offer I doubt it will be offered to the membership or accepted but it is something at least.  And it probably won’t take too much more as quite cleverly it doesn’t add Sunday’s into the working week and with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) at least that means the Sunday situation only really affects HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) drivers who are outnumbered by GWR grade ones.  Not sure what the picture is nationally though?

In other words then, Sunday will remain an unreliable lottery for customers on GWR?

[IndustryInsider]

Why do you think that, TG?

[Electric train]

Finally, an offer (still technically ‘unofficial’ I believe), has been made to the driving grade.

https://media.raildeliverygroup.com/news/the-rail-industry-makes-offer-to-aslef-to-drive-up-performance-for-passengers#

As a first offer I doubt it will be offered to the membership or accepted but it is something at least.  And it probably won’t take too much more as quite cleverly it doesn’t add Sunday’s into the working week and with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) at least that means the Sunday situation only really affects HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) drivers who are outnumbered by GWR grade ones.  Not sure what the picture is nationally though?

In other words then, Sunday will remain an unreliable lottery for customers on GWR?

The Railways have been working a 6 day rostered week of decades, just so happens we are rostered for duty 5 out of the 6 which often means  a rest day mid week.   

Going to rostered 5 out of 7 will still mean overtime working but now it would be for 2 rest days midweek instead of it being a Sunday the risk of midweek services being cancelled due to lack of staff would be hight

Rr are you advocating that Rail workers should work a mandated 7 day working week when the norm in all other sectors private or public is a 5 day working week Monday to Friday

I cannot see what the obsession is with adding Sunday in as a "normal working week day" Overtime will always have to be paid at enhanced rates of pay to make working it attractive, after all overtime is voluntary

[Mark A]

A twitter thread from a driver that's gone down well so far, here:

https://twitter.com/toptraindriver/status/1611452290598043655

Mark

[grahame]

Resumption of nearer to normal services - 8th Jan 2023

Alterations to services on all routes

Due to industrial action:
Train services running across the whole Great Western Railway network will be revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day on 08/01/23.

Customer Advice
-
Following industrial action which took place between 3-7 January, trains will continue to be disrupted on Sunday 8 January.
-
There will be a reduced level of service throughout the day; a later start to services in the morning and some late-night services may be cancelled.
-
Trains that are operating will be extremely busy. Please check before you travel, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).com/check
-
The Night Riviera sleeper service will resume.
-
Due to planned engineering work, no trains will run between Didcot Parkway and Bristol Parkway or Bath Spa.
-
Trains between London and Bristol or South Wales will use a different route not stopping at Didcot Parkway, Swindon or Chippenham. Buses will replace trains for stations between Reading and Bath Spa, and between Didcot Parkway and Bristol Parkway.
-
Shuttle trains will run between Swindon and Cheltenham Spa.
-
To help customers who have been affected by the recent industrial action, tickets dated for travel on 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 January can be used up to and including Tuesday 10 January.
-
For the latest information and FAQs^▸ (Frequently Asked Questions), visit our dedicated strike webpage; GWR.com/strike

A shuttle service is also scheduled to run between Westbury and Chippenham, with rail replacement buses on to Swindon, but that hasn't made the JourneyCheck headlines.

[TaplowGreen]

Finally, an offer (still technically ‘unofficial’ I believe), has been made to the driving grade.

https://media.raildeliverygroup.com/news/the-rail-industry-makes-offer-to-aslef-to-drive-up-performance-for-passengers#

As a first offer I doubt it will be offered to the membership or accepted but it is something at least.  And it probably won’t take too much more as quite cleverly it doesn’t add Sunday’s into the working week and with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) at least that means the Sunday situation only really affects HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) drivers who are outnumbered by GWR grade ones.  Not sure what the picture is nationally though?

In other words then, Sunday will remain an unreliable lottery for customers on GWR?

The Railways have been working a 6 day rostered week of decades, just so happens we are rostered for duty 5 out of the 6 which often means  a rest day mid week.   

Going to rostered 5 out of 7 will still mean overtime working but now it would be for 2 rest days midweek instead of it being a Sunday the risk of midweek services being cancelled due to lack of staff would be hight

Rr are you advocating that Rail workers should work a mandated 7 day working week when the norm in all other sectors private or public is a 5 day working week Monday to Friday

I cannot see what the obsession is with adding Sunday in as a "normal working week day" Overtime will always have to be paid at enhanced rates of pay to make working it attractive, after all overtime is voluntary

When you say "the norm in all other sectors private or public is a 5 day working week Monday to Friday", who do you think is serving you at the weekends and in the evenings in supermarkets, pubs, cinemas, hotels, hospitals etc?

Terms of employment should reflect the fact that the railways are a 7 day operation AND this should be reflected in the number of people employed, not totally relying on overtime which have we have seen in recent years has resulted in regular carnage and mass cancellations on GWR on Sundays.

[Bob_Blakey]

I am obviously missing, or misunderstanding, something here; surely moving to a 5 in 7 or 6 in 7 working week, committing people to work Saturdays and/or Sundays on a rota basis, with sufficient staff employed to cover the service schedule across the whole week and with the same rate of pay for each day of the week has to be more reliable and, possibly more importantly, cheaper than sticking with either a 5 or 6 day contractual working week and thus forking out large amounts of money in, presumably very generous, overtime payments to those staff willing or ?forced to work Saturdays and/or Sundays.

I was employed on such a basis, in the private sector, 35 years ago. Why does UK^▸ (United Kingdom) public sector workforce management seemingly have to be so disorganised?

[a-driver]

I am obviously missing, or misunderstanding, something here; surely moving to a 5 in 7 or 6 in 7 working week, committing people to work Saturdays and/or Sundays on a rota basis, with sufficient staff employed to cover the service schedule across the whole week and with the same rate of pay for each day of the week has to be more reliable and, possibly more importantly, cheaper than sticking with either a 5 or 6 day contractual working week and thus forking out large amounts of money in, presumably very generous, overtime payments to those staff willing or ?forced to work Saturdays and/or Sundays.

I was employed on such a basis, in the private sector, 35 years ago. Why does UK^▸ (United Kingdom) public sector workforce management seemingly have to be so disorganised?

Train operators and the government do NOT want Sundays in the working week. This would mean employing considerably more staff and with that the associated contributions the employer would be required to make.
It is far cheaper to rely on overtime, which I hasten to add, isn’t as generous as you think. 1 and 1/4 I believe.

Having said all that, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) on the driver side of things I understand are well over staffed at some locations. It may be possible that GWR could have the numbers to bring Sundays inside the working week with the alternative being redundancies

[IndustryInsider]

Train operators and the government do NOT want Sundays in the working week.

Indeed, and the unions aren’t against it (as long as it’s properly negotiated) as it means a lot more members for them.

Not sure why we’re discussing Sundays in the working week, when the offer made to ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) makes no specific mention of it, and appears to be talking about just making them ‘committed’ for everyone as they are for some now.

[Electric train]

Train operators and the government do NOT want Sundays in the working week.

Indeed, and the unions aren’t against it (as long as it’s properly negotiated) as it means a lot more members for them.

Not sure why we’re discussing Sundays in the working week, when the offer made to ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) makes no specific mention of it, and appears to be talking about just making them ‘committed’ for everyone as they are for some now.

But it is an issue for many NR^» (Network Rail - home page) staff

[Bob_Blakey]

..... Train operators and the government do NOT want Sundays in the working week. This would mean employing considerably more staff and with that the associated contributions the employer would be required to make. .....

Wouldn't it be lovely if the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) and, more especially, our government acted as if they gave a toss about what the travelling public needed? It has evidently not occurred to these imbeciles people that if they employ enough staff to deliver as close to a 100% reliable service as is possible passenger numbers will increase significantly (cf. pre-pandemic rail journeys which peaked at 1.8bn annually against the current c. 1.35bn) and the exercise very likely attains, or betters, cost neutrality with consequent higher revenues and profits.

[TrainSpy]

Train operators and the government do NOT want Sundays in the working week.

Indeed, and the unions aren’t against it (as long as it’s properly negotiated) as it means a lot more members for them.

Not sure why we’re discussing Sundays in the working week, when the offer made to ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) makes no specific mention of it, and appears to be talking about just making them ‘committed’ for everyone as they are for some now.

But that wording seems to be the same ast the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) offer doesn't it? Both press releases seemed to talk about keeping as overtime, but putting measures in place to make sure people couldn't pull out beforehand and screw the service up I think.

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, that pretty much sums it up.