Now Railway Signal Workers Vote For Strike

Maintenance workers going on strike, so now the signals staff join the bandwagon. Of course they won't all strike at the same time will they, so it'll be double disruption to the public

Train passengers face severe disruption over Easter after signal workers voted to hold the first national rail strike in 16 years.

The result of a strike ballot among the workers was announced by the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union.

Maintenance staff belonging to the RMT have already voted to go on strike in protest at 1,500 job losses at Network Rail.

More follows...
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/Rail-Signal-Workers-Vote-For-Strike-As-Job-Cut-Row-Continues/Article/201003315577024?lpos=Business_Carousel_Region_1&lid=ARTICLE_15577024_Rail_Signal_Workers_Vote_For_Strike_As_Job_Cut_Row_Continues_

 

There's no mention of what it's over, so I wouldn't get outraged just yet DD. From the figures, 77% back industrial action short of a strike, so maybe work to rule, refusal to cover and rest day working ban. Even that depends on their contracts, as some of the above is written into some of them.

If the signallers do strike, then this is the one that will screw your day up! Network Rail will get the managers into the seats, but I wouldn't trust them with doing a good and safe job of it. Also there isn't enough of them.

I could lend you my push rod if you like.

 

The right to strike is like the right to vote: hard won with the sweat and sometimes blood of our forebears, who were treated like shite in the days when they lacked it.

Of course, neither is applied with any degree of common sense or restraint these days. Would they think it had been worth it if they could see now?

 

Well i need to go down to Kent first week in May (3.5 hrs on train or 7 hrs by car), so if they on strike then, i may borrow it off you and stick it up a rail employees arrse

 

Well here's one signalman who believes in duty and service to the travelling public, who despises the very ground that the card-carrying Communist cnut Crow stands on and who will be proud to break (another) strike.

There are a hell of a lot of ex-serving signalmen around these parts who feel the same way. Network Rail is by no means a model employer, but it's a hell of a lot better working for NR than in the public sector at the moment. Despite the RMT propaganda, it's a very well-paid job - particularly for this deprived area - and I didn't see anyone else having a 4% pay rise last year! The constant barrage of RMT lies and propaganda makes NR look like paragons of truth and virtue by comparison.

Can a manager do my job? Yes - without any problems. They do, after all, test my competence to do my job, so I should fcuking-well expect them to be competent. All of them have been signalmen and most of them have actually worked here.

During one of the previous strikes there was a derailment while a manager was running a signalbox. RMT howled about 'management being incompetent to run the signalbox' and the press lapped it up. But it was crystal-clear to anyone with an ounce of knowledge that the train driver had passed a signal at danger and had then tried to reverse back behind the signal, thus becoming derailed by a set of unlocked points -something which is absolutely 100% wrong and which was 100% the driver's fault and responsibility. Needless to say, the RMT never mentioned that little detail and the press didn't believe NR.

And in the Scottish signalman's strike last year... The brave RMT reps who urged their members to strike were all off-shift on the day in question... Every last one of them... Not one of them lost a day's pay or their annual bonus.

These are the direct descendants of the same unions who went on strike during the Normandy Campaign, leaving (and in some cases actively attempting to prevent) soldiers to load and unload their own trains and ships and who actively gave succour and comfort to our enemies during the Cold War.

When the RMT stops sending cash to Cuba and North Korea, when they stop inviting terrorists to speak at their conferences, when their Dear Leader stops telling lies and trying to de-stabilise this country, when their members stop acting like sheep and going out on strike when only a tiny minority have actually voted for a strike, then they might have an ounce of my respect. Until then, the Trot cvnts can fvck off and stop pretending to speak in my name.

This part of the railway will continue to roll.

(And I look forward to another set of threatening faxes calling me a 'Fvcking Scab'... It's a 'Fvcking Blackleg', you thick cvnts - get your own Trot terminology correct. And remember to remove your fax identity this time - at least TRY to make it difficult for British Transport Police to track you down...)

 

To be fair, the last little outing in Cardiff, the station staff were of the opinion that the stand-ins were doing a better job than the regulars, as far as keeping platforms moving etc. went.

Can't say from an on-train point of view that I noticed any difference between whoever was in the box.

 

(1) So you will also be proud to accept the pay increases, brought by the people who strike? Don't tell me, you have individual negotiating rights with NR.

(2) I don't doubt that they have done the job, but just how current are they on ALL the panels? I have had DMs (DSM in old money) who I wouldn't trust with a kids' go-kart! Yes, they were all ex drivers.

(3) First I've heard of this, but then I was in the South of England. As the TPWS would have been activated, are you saying the driver just reset and set back? Any chance of some link to this or even some evidence, that it was driver error. I have personal knowledge of a signaller trying to blame a driver of running through a set of points. When the CSR was replayed, it all became apparent the driver was innocent.

(4) Are you saying that the union reps encouraged strike action or purely put across the facts? Encouraging strike action as a union rep, is a sackable offence, so I doubt that was the case.

(5) Irrelevant, what happened 60 odd years ago has nothing to do with this situation.

(6) Are you going to break Hidden then?

This is not a personal dig at you Signalman, just how I see it.

 

Fair comment, but just how much was down to reduced workings during the strike action? Not saying they are all bad, but there are only so many managers to cover.

 

Last night on Question Time: "Is the BA strike the last nail in the Labour government's coffin?"

Mariner (shouting at telly): "No. There are so many buggers tapping the lid with hammers that we'll never know."

Great to see comrade Crowe and the brothers joining in the party. Wouldn't want to miss out on all that lovely publicity, would they? Does anybody still travel by train? Last time I looked for a train from London to Scotland, the price quoted was £60 less than the price of a flight from Stansted to Malaysia!

Is there any room left round the coffin? We've got Unite, PCS and CWU unions reminding Gordon on a daily basis of who exactly pays his rent. Disaffiliated unions like RMT sniffing the heady scent of revolution and jumping on the bandwagon. A 'land grab' by major unions demanding to have their officials parachuted into safe seats in return for keeping the bailiffs at bay. Labour peers narrowly avoiding prosecution for fiddling their expenses. Other Labour peers narrowly avoiding prosecution for changing the law in exchange for cash. Howls of outrage about dodgy Tory peers while dodgy Labour peers are elevated to the Privy Council. Honourable members entertaining prostitutes in their offices in Parliament.

WTF does Gordon do during the day? He doesn't seem to spend much time managing the Labour party.

 

Well said that man.

People in Britain think the threat from communism went away when the Berlin wall came down.The activities you describe prove otherwise.

Bob Crow should be arrested as a traitor.If Britain had a jusitce system worthy of the name,he would then be tried on capital charges.

Ant socialist disagreeing with this,ask yourself,how long would someone (and their families) remain alive if they tried to arrange a strike on the railways in Cuba or North Korea?.

 

"Le_ addeur_ noir"
"Ant socialist disagreeing with this,ask yourself,how long would someone (and their families) remain alive if they tried to arrange a strike on the railways in Cuba or North Korea?.

Now now, N. Korea is not all bad, they shot their finance chief for making a balls up only recently, pity we cant do the same here!

 

I have to agree with you there,and in fact I did post yesterday on a thread that it was a pity this couldn't have happened in Britain 5 years ago.