Now Railway Signal Workers Vote For Strike

[dangerousdave]

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/Bu...ers_Vote_For_Strike_As_Job_Cut_Row_Continues_

 

[Recce19]

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.

 

[smartascarrots]

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?

 

[dangerousdave]

I could lend you my push rod if you like.

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

 

[Signalman]

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...)

 

[flamingo]

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.

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.

 

[Recce19]

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 (1) 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.

(2) 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.

(3) 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.

(4) 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.

(5) 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.

(6) 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...)

(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.

 

[Recce19]

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.

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.

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.

 

[Ancient_Mariner]

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.

 

[Signalman]

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 (1) 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.

(2) 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.

(3) 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.

(4) 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.

(5) 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.

(6) 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...)

(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.

Ah yes, of course ALL businesses that do not have communist, confrontational unions impose the minimum wage on all of their workforce...

(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.

My dad who last worked on the railway in 1962 would still be current on most of the signalling kit around here...

(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.

I know what you're saying and I too have seen that scenario - the incompetent signalman was sacked, but as usual, the RMT did their damndest to get the incompetent reinstated, using every loophole they could think of. However, the incident described above was pre-TPWS and was in Scotland. The derailment was caused by the train setting back over unlocked trailing crossover - the mid-section tried following the crossover while the rest of the train set back along the line. It couldn't have happened if the train was going forward. You could argue that the signaller/manager had authorised him to set back without locking the points, but there was no recorded call - the driver had tried to do a 'sneaky' set-back before the signaller noticed the SPAD (I've also had exactly the same here, where a driver tried a sneaky set-back after a SPAD).

(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.

They were providing the union leadership and setting the case for the strike. It's odd then, how none of them were actually on strike themselves. Talking to Scottish signallers, there was a hell of a lot of bad feeling and a serious backlash about this.

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

Tradition means everything to the unions - Jarrow, the Miners' Strike, etc, etc. They can't have it both ways. They were selling us out to the USSR only twenty years ago and continue to consort with and fund powers hostile to our country (Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Sinn-Fein/PIRA...)

(6) Are you going to break Hidden then?

No. I'm just not going to strike.

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

Granted - and I respect that. Similarly, my RMT colleagues also have these conversations with me, but even they refused to turn out for the last strike (which forced Comrade Bob to cancel it, as he knew that nobody was actually going to turn out on strike)

 

[Le_addeur_noir]

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...)

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?.

 

[ugly]

Bob Crowe shouldnt be arrested, in fact he should be allowed to spout on as much as he wants. That way the rest of the public and his union members can see what an arrsse he can be and maybe he will be replaced by someone with the welfare of their members first and foremost rather than attaining some sort of celeb status!

 

[ex_colonial]

"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!

 

[Le_addeur_noir]

"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.

 

[Recce19]

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 (1) 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.

(2) 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.

(3) 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.

(4) 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.

(5) 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.

(6) 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...)

(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.

Ah yes, of course ALL businesses that do not have communist, confrontational unions impose the minimum wage on all of their workforce...

Not quite what I was implying. I have worked in both environments. Tbh, working for a company where you negotiated your own payrise was the worst; in fact it was a sackable offence to discuss what your pay was with colleagues!

(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.

My dad who last worked on the railway in 1962 would still be current on most of the signalling kit around here...
Granted he may be current on the equipment, but you know well, as I do, that the rules and regulations have changed hell of a lot since 1962 and not all for the better.

(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.

I know what you're saying and I too have seen that scenario - the incompetent signalman was sacked, but as usual, the RMT did their damndest to get the incompetent reinstated, using every loophole they could think of. However, the incident described above was pre-TPWS and was in Scotland. The derailment was caused by the train setting back over unlocked trailing crossover - the mid-section tried following the crossover while the rest of the train set back along the line. It couldn't have happened if the train was going forward. You could argue that the signaller/manager had authorised him to set back without locking the points, but there was no recorded call - the driver had tried to do a 'sneaky' set-back before the signaller noticed the SPAD (I've also had exactly the same here, where a driver tried a sneaky set-back after a SPAD).
OK, thanks for clearing that up and the driver was a twat for attempting it! This is why all on-train recording and CSR recording either hang or exonerate the driver...or signaller.

(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.

They were providing the union leadership and setting the case for the strike. It's odd then, how none of them were actually on strike themselves. Talking to Scottish signallers, there was a hell of a lot of bad feeling and a serious backlash about this.
Now that is very bad of the reps and totally unacceptable. I take it, that they were voted out at the next union branch meeting?

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

Tradition means everything to the unions - Jarrow, the Miners' Strike, etc, etc. They can't have it both ways. They were selling us out to the USSR only twenty years ago and continue to consort with and fund powers hostile to our country (Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Sinn-Fein/PIRA...)
Fair enough, can't argue with that.

(6) Are you going to break Hidden then?

No. I'm just not going to strike.
Out of curiosity, are you actually in a union? Reason I ask, is that if you aren't, then you would be sacked for striking.

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

Granted - and I respect that. Similarly, my RMT colleagues also have these conversations with me, but even they refused to turn out for the last strike (which forced Comrade Bob to cancel it, as he knew that nobody was actually going to turn out on strike)
At least you are open about what you think and feel, with your work colleagues. At my last place, we had a guy who was militant and when push came to shove, he did everything management tld him to. As for Bob Crow, He's cunt and I wouldn't be in a union he had anything to do with!

 

[Signalman]

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 (1) 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.

(2) 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.

(3) 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.

(4) 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.

(5) 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.

(6) 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...)

(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.

Ah yes, of course ALL businesses that do not have communist, confrontational unions impose the minimum wage on all of their workforce...

Not quite what I was implying. I have worked in both environments. Tbh, working for a company where you negotiated your own payrise was the worst; in fact it was a sackable offence to discuss what your pay was with colleagues!

True enough.

(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.

My dad who last worked on the railway in 1962 would still be current on most of the signalling kit around here...
Granted he may be current on the equipment, but you know well, as I do, that the rules and regulations have changed hell of a lot since 1962 and not all for the better.

True enough - that was a flippant comment about my dad, but he does still come back to me with bell codes when he hears them down the phone! However, nothing has changed in this box for twenty years and we're one of the two most modern boxes in the area (some boxes around here haven't changed for over 100 years - oil lamps in the semaphores have only just been changed by battery-powered lights!) and the management have worked them all within the last few years - they're also up to speed on the rules and regs (more so than me! ).

(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.

I know what you're saying and I too have seen that scenario - the incompetent signalman was sacked, but as usual, the RMT did their damndest to get the incompetent reinstated, using every loophole they could think of. However, the incident described above was pre-TPWS and was in Scotland. The derailment was caused by the train setting back over unlocked trailing crossover - the mid-section tried following the crossover while the rest of the train set back along the line. It couldn't have happened if the train was going forward. You could argue that the signaller/manager had authorised him to set back without locking the points, but there was no recorded call - the driver had tried to do a 'sneaky' set-back before the signaller noticed the SPAD (I've also had exactly the same here, where a driver tried a sneaky set-back after a SPAD).
OK, thanks for clearing that up and the driver was a twat for attempting it! This is why all on-train recording and CSR recording either hang or exonerate the driver...or signaller.

A truer word was never spoken! We were all quite 'anti' when it arrived - especially the permanently-civvy lads with no experience of phonetic comms. However, it's saved my arrse more than once and many others will say the same thing. It's also hung a few as well, but tbh they deserved to be hung - such as a signaller who authorised a train to pass a signal at danger, straight into an engineering possession (having already authorised technicians to disconnect the signal so that they would be protected)!!!

(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.

They were providing the union leadership and setting the case for the strike. It's odd then, how none of them were actually on strike themselves. Talking to Scottish signallers, there was a hell of a lot of bad feeling and a serious backlash about this.
Now that is very bad of the reps and totally unacceptable. I take it, that they were voted out at the next union branch meeting?

I think they were!

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

Tradition means everything to the unions - Jarrow, the Miners' Strike, etc, etc. They can't have it both ways. They were selling us out to the USSR only twenty years ago and continue to consort with and fund powers hostile to our country (Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Sinn-Fein/PIRA...)
Fair enough, can't argue with that.

(6) Are you going to break Hidden then?

No. I'm just not going to strike.
Out of curiosity, are you actually in a union? Reason I ask, is that if you aren't, then you would be sacked for striking.

That's a bloody good point! There are plenty of good unions out there, who really do work for their members without it being part of the Greater Struggle against 'The Man'... But I don't see them in this industry.

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

Granted - and I respect that. Similarly, my RMT colleagues also have these conversations with me, but even they refused to turn out for the last strike (which forced Comrade Bob to cancel it, as he knew that nobody was actually going to turn out on strike)
At least you are open about what you think and feel, with your work colleagues. At my last place, we had a guy who was militant and when push came to shove, he did everything management tld him to. As for Bob Crow, He's cunt and I wouldn't be in a union he had anything to do with!

You Sir, are a gentleman (for a driver ) and if you're ever passing, drop in for a cuppa and sod the passengers in the back (I can arrange a 'failure')

 

[Ancient_Mariner]

Bob Crowe shouldnt be arrested, in fact he should be allowed to spout on as much as he wants.

Too true. Most people still think RMT is affiliated to or at least associated with the Labour party. Bob must be kicking himself now Labour's moving to the left and there's seats aplenty for unionistas.

Interesting article in the Telegraph at the end of last year. In addition to the quarter of the Parliamentary Labour Party who are "retiring" at the election, about fifty have apparently asked Gord for a seat in the Lords in the dissolution honours. One ex-minister was quoted as complaining of "an unprecedented onslaught by the Trots" (and I don't think it was John Prescott complaining about a dodgy Ginsters).

That's in addition to all of the ex-ministers who will get an automatic peerage. A couple have even been sniffing round the Lib Dems in search of a safe seat.

Looks like new New Labour will consist largely of Old Labour.

 

[Le_addeur_noir]

Bob Crowe shouldnt be arrested, in fact he should be allowed to spout on as much as he wants.

Too true. Most people still think RMT is affiliated to or at least associated with the Labour party. Bob must be kicking himself now Labour's moving to the left and there's seats aplenty for unionistas.

Interesting article in the Telegraph at the end of last year. In addition to the quarter of the Parliamentary Labour Party who are "retiring" at the election, about fifty have apparently asked Gord for a seat in the Lords in the dissolution honours. One ex-minister was quoted as complaining of "an unprecedented onslaught by the Trots" (and I don't think it was John Prescott complaining about a dodgy Ginsters).

That's in addition to all of the ex-ministers who will get an automatic peerage. A couple have even been sniffing round the Lib Dems in search of a safe seat.

Looks like new New Labour will consist largely of Old Labour.

And hopefully these Marxist cnuts will consign themselves to the dustbin of history.Never to be re-elected.

It would be good if the next government re-opened enquiries into MPs expenses and started prosecutions of Labour(and ex Labour) MPs.

 

[Signalman]

In case anyone's wondering what it's all about, this is my view from the trenches:

1. Rostering:

The recently-opened signalling centre in Cardiff replaced both Cardiff panel and Newport panel, plus a few other signal boxes. Consequently, signallers (many of whom were being made redunant) applied for the new jobs at the Cardiff centre. However, Network Rail imposed an eight-hour shift pattern, as it's apparently better from a cost point of view than running fewer twelve hour shifts and apparently reduces overall fatigue for the workers. I neither understand or agree with these claims (we went from 8 hour to twelve hour shifts ten years ago and would never want to change back).

Nevertheless, it's a brand-new work location and the company has the right to set whatever roster pattern it likes, within its own rostering guidelines - which it has. This was made quite clear from the outset and if signallers didn't like 8 hour shifts, they were more than welcome to NOT apply for the job and to seek a job elsewhere. It was NOT a case of the company imposing a change in existing rosters without consultation, which is what is being alleged by the RMT.

So, having applied for and got these jobs with advertised 8 hour shifts, the new Cardiff signallers went on strike, because they wanted 12 hour shifts like they used to have at the old Cardiff and Newport Panels. While I have some sympathy for them in having to go back to crappy 8 hour shifts, I still have to say that it was tough titty! They applied for NEW jobs that were quite clearly going to involve 8 hour shift patterns. They had the right not to apply.

So now the RMT is whipping up a poo-storm nationally, trying to scare everyone that Network Rail is going to impose new shift patterns on people against their will... B0ll0cks.


2. Protection of Engineering Possessions:

Last year, Network Rail announced that they were going to trial a Canadian-developed method of protecting engineering 'possessions' (also called 'blockades') of the railway for major engineering works. The current system involves placing pyro detonators on the line, along with a 'STOP' board and a red flashing light, as a 'backstop' against the possibility of a signalman sending a train into the possession.

Statistically, far more track workers are killed by trains in the act of placing or picking up these protective measures than are killed by any other cause on the railway. The instances of trains actually being sent inadvertently into a possession are also virtually nil. Almost all of the trains that have illegally entered a possession in the last few decades have been runaway vehicles, which would not in any case be stopped by detonators, as they don't have a driver to hear them.

Consequently, Network Rail announced this new scheme, which would do away with detonators, etc - thus preventing further deaths of track workers engaged in placing or picking up the dets. However, there was a massive backlash - not least from track-workers who like the security of dets being placed to protect them. After some discussion, Network Rail said "Ok, fair enough, we'll bin that idea for now".

However, the RMT wanted demands that this would never, ever, be up for discussion again. NR told them to ram it, as protection methods were constantly under review. RMT howled about 'safety' and called everyone out on strike, even though NR have said that they are not going to implement these new regulations.

Of course, RMT conveniently ignores the fact that the Canadians have been using this system safely for years and everyone else in Europe does something similar. They also ignore the fact tha dozens of railwaymen have died as a direct result of having to place or collect dets. Virtually only UK and India use dets on the line nowadays - all other countries simply hold signals at red and trust the signalman not to be a fvckwit. We also now have TPWS since the Ladbroke Grove crash, which actively prevents a train from passing a signal at danger, even if the driver wants to.

What RMT is really interested in is keeping manning-levels high - doing away with dets would reduce the required level of manpower and that is always anathema to the RMT. They always howl "Safety!", but in this instance it's actually about jobs - not safety. In my opinion the proposed new regs would actually save lives and the RMT has got far too many dangerous fvckwits reinstated on technicalties to ever claim the moral high-ground when it comes to safety.


So from my point of view there are some bizarre decisions by Network Rail (but also good some ones), but they haven't actually done anything that warrants striking. The RMT meanwhile, is dragging out the same, tired old propaganda, dropping the word "Safety!" into every other (safety!) soundbite, when in fact it has cokc-all to do with safety.

 

[Le_addeur_noir]

It is more than clear that the RMT is living in a 1960/1970s timewarp,and more sinisterly,their Dear Leader,the Marxist Bob Crow is out to cause as much disruption as possible.

There may well be a short term gain if Crow's marxist actions lose Labour votes in the coming election,but hopefully the next government will do to the railways in this decade what Ronnie Reagan did to the air traffic controllers in the States in the 1980s and smash their union.Either that,or militancy will undermine what railway industry is left in Britain.

Time for Norman Tebbit Mk 2 to rise?.