Rail line hit by driver shortage. (BBC News 08/11/09)

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

The Sunday service on an entire rail route into London's Kings Cross has been cancelled because there are not enough drivers to operate the trains.

First Capital Connect, which runs the Great Northern service, said not enough staff had volunteered to work overtime. It is the second company this year to be hit by a train driver shortage.

The union Aslef strongly denied it had orchestrated what amounted to an unofficial strike but said its members' choice not to work was understandable.

Pay talks

First Capital Connect (FCC^▸ (First Capital Connect)) needs around 80 drivers to run the Great Northern service from Peterborough and King's Lynn. But as is normal in the rail industry, the weekend shifts are staffed voluntarily by drivers willing to work overtime. This weekend, just a handful have offered.

BBC transport correspondent Tom Symonds pointed out that Aslef is currently in pay talks with their employer and has already rejected two offers. The union strongly denied it had effectively orchestrated an unofficial strike but said the company had been running recently on what it called "a lot of goodwill". The company's other service, Thameslink, has also been affected by the work-to-rule.

FCC said it strongly advised against travelling by rail unless absolutely necessary, and added that tickets would be accepted on alternative bus and rail routes in areas including London's Liverpool Street and King's Cross, King's Lynn, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Bedford, Hitchin, Stevenage, Luton Airport and Peterborough.

In a statement, FCC said: "We are continuing to work towards a resolution to these problems and to provide alternative transport where possible and will post any updates on our website. We regret any inconvenience this disruption will cause."

FCC, which employs around 600 drivers, said it was disappointed that there would be hardly any Great Northern trains on Remembrance Sunday. It said it had contacted local officials of the Royal British Legion to warn them of disruption.

A similar refusal to work weekends in September caused disruption to another train company, London Midland.

[smithy]

i suspect this will be more common,probably the same will happen on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) in the near future,not with drivers but other staff like conductors,engineering and station.for the same reasons as FCC^▸ (First Capital Connect) as the pay offer is the same across first group.

[RailCornwall]

Typical, whosoever chose this date for industrial action, or should I say co-ordinated withdrawal of voluntary attendance, should be ashamed, to disrupt even a single persons attendance in Whitehall on Remembrance Sunday is unforgivable.

[John R]

That was my thought.  A totally inappropriate day to take action.   

[smithy]

agreed it is an innapropriate day to do these things but the drivers and union will see it as job done because of the publicity it got in press/media.

[Mookiemoo]

Said before and will say it again - I doubt many of the travelling public will have support for this type of action.

Sundays should be part of the normal roster - end of.  Anyone who objects should be made to pack their bags - there are plenty of people out there who could be trained to do the job.  i'd rather suffer delays and cancellations because free loaders are hoofed than this unofficial industrial action.

[IndustryInsider]

Sundays should be part of the normal roster - end of.  Anyone who objects should be made to pack their bags - there are plenty of people out there who could be trained to do the job.  i'd rather suffer delays and cancellations because free loaders are hoofed than this unofficial industrial action.

Whilst it isn't quite as blissfully simple as that, I do agree that Sundays should be brought in as part of the rostered working week for all 'wages' staff - in exchange for a modest increase in pay to compensate what they would lose out on. Now that a second TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) has fallen foul of this in the space of a couple of months, I would expect that the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and TOC management will be keen to sort this loophole (which has existed for years, by the way) before it gets farcical. You can also expect the Unions to be as obstinate as possible to change.

[Mookiemoo]

Sundays should be part of the normal roster - end of.  Anyone who objects should be made to pack their bags - there are plenty of people out there who could be trained to do the job.  i'd rather suffer delays and cancellations because free loaders are hoofed than this unofficial industrial action.

Whilst it isn't quite as blissfully simple as that, I do agree that Sundays should be brought in as part of the rostered working week for all 'wages' staff - in exchange for a modest increase in pay to compensate what they would lose out on. Now that a second TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) has fallen foul of this in the space of a couple of months, I would expect that the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and TOC management will be keen to sort this loophole (which has existed for years, by the way) before it gets farcical. You can also expect the Unions to be as obstinate as possible to change.

Which is not exactly an advert for the dinosaurs that are unions

[Cornish Traveller]

Well a certain TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) not far from FCC^▸ (First Capital Connect) the train crews would almost sell their Granny to work extra Sundays !! (and they do not get double pay before anyone asks.)

[Super Guard]

Sundays should be part of the normal roster - end of.  Anyone who objects should be made to pack their bags - there are plenty of people out there who could be trained to do the job.  i'd rather suffer delays and cancellations because free loaders are hoofed than this unofficial industrial action.

Whilst it isn't quite as blissfully simple as that, I do agree that Sundays should be brought in as part of the rostered working week for all 'wages' staff - in exchange for a modest increase in pay to compensate what they would lose out on. Now that a second TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) has fallen foul of this in the space of a couple of months, I would expect that the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and TOC management will be keen to sort this loophole (which has existed for years, by the way) before it gets farcical. You can also expect the Unions to be as obstinate as possible to change.

TOCs want to keep Sundays out of the working week but make staff contractually obligated to work their booked Sundays.  Pay deals have been thrown out due to TOCs trying to change Sunday arrangements, so I doubt very much this will change in the future.  (And I am one of those that would happily be contracted to work every Sunday if possible.)

[IndustryInsider]

Which is not exactly an advert for the dinosaurs that are unions

No, it's not. But the Unions aren't in the business of advertising. They are in the business of getting the best deal for their members. Their interest in good relationships with TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s, Government and to a large extent the public is always secondary. That's the case with most of the Unions, and, whether you like it or not, that's not going to change unless their is some major change in employment law. I can't see that happening any time soon.

[Mookiemoo]

Which is not exactly an advert for the dinosaurs that are unions

No, it's not. But the Unions aren't in the business of advertising. They are in the business of getting the best deal for their members. Their interest in good relationships with TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s, Government and to a large extent the public is always secondary. That's the case with most of the Unions, and, whether you like it or not, that's not going to change unless their is some major change in employment law. I can't see that happening any time soon.

i'd love someone in my industry to join a union (even the non contractors - the permies I work with) to join a union and see how far they get......laughed all the way to their P45 I would guess

Its only the ex state run industries that have reasonable unionization.........

Union for software engineers?  Project managers?

[dog box]

looks like you might be just talking yourself into a new role here fallen angel...lol

[IndustryInsider]

i'd love someone in my industry to join a union (even the non contractors - the permies I work with) to join a union and see how far they get......laughed all the way to their P45 I would guess

Its only the ex state run industries that have reasonable unionization.........

Union for software engineers?  Project managers?

Very true. It's a complicated situation. It's virtually impossible for sectors that have not had historical unionisation to get a proper established union up and running. If you join the railway as a front line member of staff then you join one of the three unions. A tiny fraction of people don't, but not enough to cause any cracks to appear.

Many organisations won't recognise unions, but if it was realistic that all the permanent staff in your industry did join a union then effectively they would be forced to recognise them and working conditions and pay would most likely improve - that's why people are in unions. But it's strength in numbers, so If only a few maverick's joined then they would most likely be 'laughed all the way to their P45' - albeit a long and protracted laugh involving an industrial tribunal and legal battles galore if the individual has any sense.

An interesting anomaly in the railway industry was that Heathrow Express staff weren't being recognised by their employees (BAA) when they joined a union initially. This changed over time (ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) in 2003 and the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) in 2007) and was basically down to the weight in number of people who joined: http://www.rmt.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=100944&int1stParentNodeID=89732

The railway industry (excluding white collar workers), along with postal workers and some others are in a stronger position that most unions as the wholesale withdrawal of their labour has an immediate and costly effect on the business they work for.

Here's a link to a weighty research document that confirms the effect being in a union has: http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/briefingpapers_bp143/

[Mookiemoo]

i'd love someone in my industry to join a union (even the non contractors - the permies I work with) to join a union and see how far they get......laughed all the way to their P45 I would guess

Its only the ex state run industries that have reasonable unionization.........

Union for software engineers?  Project managers?

Many organisations won't recognise unions, but if it was realistic that all the permanent staff in your industry did join a union then effectively they would be forced to recognise them and working conditions and pay would most likely improve

Nope - because they'd just be laid off first and then the like of me brought in as an independent. 

Also, it would take the "good" contractors/employees to join otherwise the union staff would be known as the poor quality contractors - and the good ones will not join because we do not want to see our daily rates cut which we negotiate ourselves just to protect the dross