Railway staff unions industrial and strike action - 2023

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

Indeed, no one would walk out for that length of time earning that sort of money

[TaplowGreen]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) News - Rail union announces three days of strikes in July
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65986714

[ChrisB]

Thursday & 2 Saturdays

20, 22 & 29 July.

[TaplowGreen]

Could raise the stakes a bit if the rumours turn out to be true......

https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/rmt-statement-on-the-future-of-ticket-offices/

[IndustryInsider]

Some clarity of their intentions will be good to have.

[TaplowGreen]

Some clarity of their intentions will be good to have.

Article in The Guardian;

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/26/closure-most-uk-railway-station-ticket-offices-start-weeks?CMP=share_btn_tw&s=09

Cites 1000 ticket offices but emphasises staff moving from behind a screen to other, customer service roles

And the FT

https://www.ft.com/content/5a5bfe22-224b-4a9a-8e8c-f77a41d24e93

[Bob_Blakey]

According to the Grauniad report the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)/RDG^‡(resolve) say that closing 'about 1000' ticket offices will, amongst other things, save costs. How so? Presumably all the target offices are located within the existing railway station estate so getting rid of them won't save much, if anything, in building and/or rental costs. Maybe a slight reduction in overall power usage if the vacated spaces are not repurposed and somebody remembers to turn off the lights! As I understand it the bosses plan to move all the ticketing staff to 'roaming the station' passenger assistance roles on the same pay rates and with no compulsory redundancies so I fail to see where any HR^▸ (Human Resources) savings will come from. 

[IndustryInsider]

Cites 1000 ticket offices…

Which, I think, is ALL ticket offices country wide?  That would be a big mistake IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion). 

How many should close IMHO?  Some? Yes.  Over half? Probably.  All of them? No!

[TaplowGreen]

Cites 1000 ticket offices…

Which, I think, is ALL ticket offices country wide?  That would be a big mistake IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion). 

How many should close IMHO?  Some? Yes.  Over half? Probably.  All of them? No!

Agreed.

Imagine the scene.....

"Tell you what Mick, strikes aren't getting you anywhere, even the Nurses have called it a day........we've said 1000 but we'll call it 750, bung you an extra 0.5% this year, you can bask in reflected glory and march everyone back to work......deal?"

[grahame]

Cites 1000 ticket offices…

Which, I think, is ALL ticket offices country wide?  That would be a big mistake IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion). 

How many should close IMHO?  Some? Yes.  Over half? Probably.  All of them? No!

Yes - from a year ago in The Yorkshire Post

All 980 railway station ticket offices in England could close with physical train tickets axed under plans to save up to £500m. The Sunday Times has reported that the rail industry has drawn up a confidential strategy to close or "repurpose" all ticket offices in England, starting the closure programme in September

and someone asked what the saving would be

'Secret plan' to close every railway ticket office in England to save £500m

[IndustryInsider]

Imagine the scene.....

"Tell you what Mick, strikes aren't getting you anywhere, even the Nurses have called it a day........we've said 1000 but we'll call it 750, bung you an extra 0.5% this year, you can bask in reflected glory and march everyone back to work......deal?"

We’ll have to get you a job at ACAS. 

[TaplowGreen]

Still nothing on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website giving details of services during this week's ASOS by ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) beyond advice that "short notice alterations and cancellations can be expected".............is this likely to be as specific as the advice will get or will revised journey planners be published (as the website suggests, but we're getting rather close to allow people to change their plans?

[grahame]

Still nothing on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website giving details of services during this week's ASOS by ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) beyond advice that "short notice alterations and cancellations can be expected".............is this likely to be as specific as the advice will get or will revised journey planners be published (as the website suggests, but we're getting rather close to allow people to change their plans?

I am taking the precaution of NOT promoting the 08:45 Swindon to Weymouth and 19:40 Weymouth to Swindon through services to the general public next Saturday - a mental risk assessment suggests it would be unwise to do so.

It IS being promoted as the West Wiltshire Rail User Group summer outing; apart from Melksham, there are alternative services from and to the other West Wilts stations, and I have emergency mitigation options in place to get a handful of Melksham people home without having to wait for GWR to find alternative transport.

[grahame]

Still nothing on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website giving details of services during this week's ASOS by ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) beyond advice that "short notice alterations and cancellations can be expected".............is this likely to be as specific as the advice will get or will revised journey planners be published (as the website suggests, but we're getting rather close to allow people to change their plans?

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) says at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66059122

Among the disruption expected:

South Western Railway says it will run a reduced timetable with some first and last trains cancelled. Its services are likely to be busier than usual, and customers heading to the Wimbledon tennis championships are being advised to allow extra time for their journeys

Northern is advising passengers to expect some services to start later and finish earlier than usual, as well as short-notice cancellations

Great Western Railway expects some short-notice alterations or cancellations, and says its Night Riviera Sleeper service will not run in either direction until Sunday

Chiltern Railways is warning customers only to travel if absolutely essential on Saturday. Its trains will not stop at the station by Wembley Stadium, which is hosting a concert by Blur.

It specifically says short notice and on that basis they seem to be saying that GWR are not giving customers timeous notice.

[a-driver]

Still nothing on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website giving details of services during this week's ASOS by ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) beyond advice that "short notice alterations and cancellations can be expected".............is this likely to be as specific as the advice will get or will revised journey planners be published (as the website suggests, but we're getting rather close to allow people to change their plans?

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) says at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66059122

Among the disruption expected:

South Western Railway says it will run a reduced timetable with some first and last trains cancelled. Its services are likely to be busier than usual, and customers heading to the Wimbledon tennis championships are being advised to allow extra time for their journeys

Northern is advising passengers to expect some services to start later and finish earlier than usual, as well as short-notice cancellations

Great Western Railway expects some short-notice alterations or cancellations, and says its Night Riviera Sleeper service will not run in either direction until Sunday

Chiltern Railways is warning customers only to travel if absolutely essential on Saturday. Its trains will not stop at the station by Wembley Stadium, which is hosting a concert by Blur.

It specifically says short notice and on that basis they seem to be saying that GWR are not giving customers timeous notice.

Very difficult for GWR to give any timely notice as this will vary daily, ie any uncovered jobs will vary every day as will your spare cover.

You can’t roster a Paddington driver to cover a Bristol turn but on the day, you can use that Paddington based driver to partially cover a Bristol turn. Basically you could provide a list of cancellations now, but come the day, it’ll all change.