| Train Drivers Pay Rise 18:35 - Mar 19 with 590 views | johnlangy |
What prompted me to create this thread is yet another comment by another of the useless members of the last Tory Government re train drivers pay.
He criticised the Labour government for awarding a pay rise to the train drivers in order to end the dispute about pay. He said, yet again, that the rise was inflation busting and that some train drivers were earning far more than their standard £60,000 or so salary.
A while ago the train driver pay story came up in the same newscast as a story about Thames Water. In that story the boss of Thames Water was explaining that when they were appointing people to senior positions within their company they had to pay the going rate to attract the best people.
I googled the Thames Water boss’ pay and this came up.
Chris Weston, the CEO of Thames Water, has a base salary of £850,000 a year, plus a performance-related bonus of up to 156% of his salary. This gives him a potential total package of around £2.25 million. This is obscene bearing in mind what an awful service they provide.
Because of this obscenity OFWAT started looking to reduce their pay levels by cutting the amount they can be paid in bonuses. The water companies then told OFWAT that if they limit the amount they are allowed to pay the bosses in bonuses they will simply raise the base salary. So, no matter what happens these people will get their enormous salaries and neither OFWAT nor the Government nor anybody can do a thing about it.
If you were to ask these people how they warrant these levels of pay they say that they have enormous responsibilities, that they are in charge of a multi million pound company and they have to run that company well and if they don’t they will be sacked. When they ARE sacked how many times have we read that their contract included a golden handshake. So they still don’t lose out despite utter incompetence.
If it is their responsibility that the company is run well then it’s their responsibility when the company doesn’t run well – like when the company breaks the law for example. It has been reported that Thames and all the other Water companies break the law several times a day, every day of the year. So does that not make the people that run those companies criminals if they say they are responsible for how the company is run ?
Now take your average train driver. He drives his train from Swansea to Paddington for example and then drives it back again. And he does that every working day and, as far as I’m aware, doesn’t break the law. He just does the job that he is responsible for and does it properly. And if he did break the law the company would quite rightly sack him. And he wouldn’t have a golden handshake.
The deal the train drivers were awarded was 5% a year over a number of years. That would be £3000 a year on a base salary of £60,000. And after tax just £1,800 after paying higher level income tax.
Ask yourself how many times members of the last Tory government said the pay rise was inflation busting. Inflation this last year is around 2.5/3% so 5% is inflation busting. So what was 5% the year before in 2023 when annual inflation was 7.3% with a peak of 11% ? I don’t remember any of them mentioning that. I also don’t remember any of them praising the train drivers for working through the pandemic because they were an essential service like NHS workers.
And did they mention that, when inflation in 2023 was 7.3%, bosses in the biggest UK companies enjoyed average pay rises of 16%. Did they call that inflation busting ? Of course they didn’t. Makes you wonder why when those pesky train drivers were being so horrible.
Now think of how the two groups of workers were treated by the press. The water company problems were/are criticised in the press every now and then. But when the train drivers were striking to try to get their ‘inflation busting’ pay rise they were crucified on the front pages of the usual papers virtually every single day of the week.
It almost makes you think that maybe ordinary people are treated unfairly in the press. Surely not.
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| Train Drivers Pay Rise on 18:55 - Mar 19 with 548 views | SullutaCreturned |
The rich and powerful look after the rich and powerful, always have and always will.
The people that actually do all the working get shat upon regularly. We get called skivers, poor workers and yes, we get called greedy too. When an ordinary working Joe wants an inflation pay rise it's greed and they can't afford it, when a CEO wants a double the rate of inflation rise it's because they need the best people and as we all regualrly can see, if these are the best people then we really are screwed!
During covid we learned who and what was important, so I thought, it didn't take us long to forget. | | | |
| Train Drivers Pay Rise on 19:01 - Mar 19 with 540 views | JACKMANANDBOY |
Mick Lynch did the train drivers no good, he talked about class war and smashing the Government which was food and drink to the press who quickly pointed out equally deserving causes in other industries such as nursing.
Your point about the legal responsibilities of directors is interesting. I worked in a regulated industry with a legal framework for about 16 years. I knew that breaking the law would be the end of my job.
The governance arrangements for utilities are too weak. They need to be revisited, people should have proper accountability for their roles in critical industries. I think utility bosses are beginning to be held to account in parts of the press, which is the job of the press in a liberal democracy, rather than chasing clicks and viewer numbers with eye catching stories of no real consequence.
Have a look at the front pages of any news outlet and you will see stories that are just click bait. [Post edited 19 Mar 19:03]
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| Train Drivers Pay Rise on 20:43 - Mar 19 with 474 views | Boundy |
Swansea Wests finest in action:
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| "In a free society, the State is the servant of the people—not the master." |
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| Train Drivers Pay Rise on 20:50 - Mar 19 with 462 views | JACKMANANDBOY |
| Train Drivers Pay Rise on 20:43 - Mar 19 by Boundy |
Swansea Wests finest in action:
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I think the best thing about him is his Swansea accent. | |
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| Train Drivers Pay Rise on 21:08 - Mar 19 with 439 views | Kilkennyjack |
| Train Drivers Pay Rise on 19:01 - Mar 19 by JACKMANANDBOY |
Mick Lynch did the train drivers no good, he talked about class war and smashing the Government which was food and drink to the press who quickly pointed out equally deserving causes in other industries such as nursing.
Your point about the legal responsibilities of directors is interesting. I worked in a regulated industry with a legal framework for about 16 years. I knew that breaking the law would be the end of my job.
The governance arrangements for utilities are too weak. They need to be revisited, people should have proper accountability for their roles in critical industries. I think utility bosses are beginning to be held to account in parts of the press, which is the job of the press in a liberal democracy, rather than chasing clicks and viewer numbers with eye catching stories of no real consequence.
Have a look at the front pages of any news outlet and you will see stories that are just click bait. [Post edited 19 Mar 19:03]
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Mick speaks for many who cant speak up for themselves.
A superb communicator.
Terrible judgement on Brexit though.
The way Mick deals with silly questions is a joy. |  |
| Beware of the Risen People
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| Train Drivers Pay Rise on 01:04 - Mar 20 with 361 views | Robbie |
Two teir Kier first announcment within hours of taking Office at No.10 were to scrap the Rwanda plan and yield to train drivers demands of 70 grand a year , you got it no probs .
Train Drivers put their views across of pulbic safety in their role quite rightly , difficult job .
But to bully a PM to capitulate is nonsense , they done it though .
They have the power to strike and down tools and walk out on strike , threats of chaos on public transport throws fuel on the fire .
Thankfully Nurses and decent NHS staff do not have the same ethos as others . | | | |
| Train Drivers Pay Rise on 07:25 - Mar 20 with 289 views | 1983 |
| Train Drivers Pay Rise on 19:01 - Mar 19 by JACKMANANDBOY |
Mick Lynch did the train drivers no good, he talked about class war and smashing the Government which was food and drink to the press who quickly pointed out equally deserving causes in other industries such as nursing.
Your point about the legal responsibilities of directors is interesting. I worked in a regulated industry with a legal framework for about 16 years. I knew that breaking the law would be the end of my job.
The governance arrangements for utilities are too weak. They need to be revisited, people should have proper accountability for their roles in critical industries. I think utility bosses are beginning to be held to account in parts of the press, which is the job of the press in a liberal democracy, rather than chasing clicks and viewer numbers with eye catching stories of no real consequence.
Have a look at the front pages of any news outlet and you will see stories that are just click bait. [Post edited 19 Mar 19:03]
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Mick Lynch is nothing to do with train drivers
The train drivers union is ASLEF and the general secretary is Mick Whelan [Post edited 20 Mar 10:16]
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| Train Drivers Pay Rise on 07:35 - Mar 20 with 273 views | 1983 |
We get totally blinded by the train drivers pay, the reason train drivers get paid so much is because of privatisation as different rail companies were offering bigger pay as it takes so long to recruit drivers into the job so train drivers were jumping from one company to another.
Working class hate to see other working class do well but most seem to accept it when we are getting shafted by councils,governments,royal families...etc Train drivers good luck to them nice to see some have a rub of the green is what I say. | |
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| Train Drivers Pay Rise on 08:24 - Mar 20 with 238 views | JACKMANANDBOY |
| Train Drivers Pay Rise on 07:25 - Mar 20 by 1983 |
Mick Lynch is nothing to do with train drivers
The train drivers union is ASLEF and the general secretary is Mick Whelan [Post edited 20 Mar 10:16]
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Whoops, thanks for the post. | |
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| Train Drivers Pay Rise on 09:09 - Mar 20 with 207 views | Whiterockin |
| Train Drivers Pay Rise on 07:35 - Mar 20 by 1983 |
We get totally blinded by the train drivers pay, the reason train drivers get paid so much is because of privatisation as different rail companies were offering bigger pay as it takes so long to recruit drivers into the job so train drivers were jumping from one company to another.
Working class hate to see other working class do well but most seem to accept it when we are getting shafted by councils,governments,royal families...etc Train drivers good luck to them nice to see some have a rub of the green is what I say. |
9% of British people commuting to work travel by train. With the increasing cost involved I wonder how they feel about the train drivers pay rise. That is 9% of those commuting not 9% of the working population because so many now work at home. |  | | |
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