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Postage Strikes really kicking in now!

David_Vi said:
Your taxes go into the rail system now, well they go to Europes rail systems. I'm sure most people would rather taxes be used to improve on our shoddy rail network rather than to the nationalised European rail systems and the overpaid directors who are on close to 1mil without bonuses.
All propped up by our gov using our taxes.



Why can only one deserve a pay rise? So everyone else deserves a pay cut?
I don't understand the race to the bottom mentality.

6% is more than most. Most people have had pay cuts the last decade.

What I don't understand is the working class gets pay cuts year after year. Yet the high level staff, directors, MPs, ceos etc, get payrises yearly, and payrises that exceed inflation.
Then they try to tell you the working class is greedy and selfish?🤔
UK rail network, royal mail (and I assume others) made huge profits... But where does it go?

Why?
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Shareholders, and I actually agree with much that you say.

I was listening to someone grumbling yesterday about Tesco not being able to match Aldi prices due to dividends. I really don't know anything about all of that but things are tight at the moment and margins are squeezed.

I guess it's the age old argument between a public/state company and privatisation.

I don't think there's an easy answer. I remember British Rail and the London Electricity Board and they were shockingly sh1te.

That being said we don't have control over our utilities now and look what's happening.
 
s000m said:
I'm lost I thought this thread was about Royal Mail, when did it 'derail' into trains?
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Someone brought it up on page 1 but I missed it... I couldn't help replying as I'd love to earn that much 🤣
 
Marvello said:
Anyone who owns tens of thousands of pounds of Pinball machines can't be doing too bad. Let's put all this in perspective.

Everyone always wants more no matter how much they have.
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No one likes loosing money regardless of what you earn. I see people have on here not paying parking fines as they feel cheated so why is loosing money on things you've sold any different?
 
Marvello said:
Anyone who owns tens of thousands of pounds worth of Pinball machines can't be doing too bad. Let's put all this in perspective.
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I like it..... I'll try that on my 8 year old daughter.

"Sorry sweetheart, I did buy you the Barbie set for Christmas and I'm sure it will arrive early in the new year. But turn that frown upside-down because Daddy has a Deadpool pinball machine which has very special armour which should take the edge off your mood". 😉
 
David_Vi said:

Great example of media bias regarding the Royal Mail strikes
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This is why I turned off the beeb over 20 years ago. Totally biased and a sprinkling of gaslighting.

Never let the truth get in the way of a good yarn. BBC 101.
 
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Unions are the cause of 90% of the UK's failings, because of union resistance and inaction the steel, coal, car and manufacturing trades have been totally hollowed out; the car industry in the UK should be bigger than it is in Germany, but nope thanks to the union its not even a tenth of what it is in Germany.

Don't like what you are getting paid or how the company runs? It's easy, just leave and get a different job where the pay is good and the conditions are better.

Royal Mail losing money day after day because they can't compete. And yes the going rate for delivery has gone down because of competition and idiots like Dave Ward that have no idea what the real world is like think that they can go on as they are forever!

RM are losing £400m a year, a million quid a day set on fire every day! The letters business is a joke and Amazon are getting bigger and better than the RM for parcels.

The posties, who are a good bunch, lead by donkeys in the union sadly, with the union basically sealing their fate of much more aggressive cuts and changes, you say bad journalism? how? Really its actually bad unionism with the union demanding a pay rise for no improvement in efficiency - and claiming conditions BS. Meanwhile RM hire people at the market rate that their competition are hiring and the union promising them gold aand if they join and keep the union barons in their cushy jobs whilst calling each other comrades and brothers :D :D :D RM is going bust if they don't change thats the stark reality. And they hold the tax paying public with a gun to their head at Christmas, No freaking way.

Rail situation is a joke also, with union propaganda around international shareholders and what seniors management is paid (which is the going rate for that job), or should the rail companies pay 40K for the CEO and hire some rando of the street? Its totally irrelevant to how the trains operate and the greed of the union. They think nationalisation is the answer and the moron union barons who state that don't even know the question let alone the answer; so thats why Scotrail has been on strike? That nationalisation is going really well, with the performance the worst it has been in a decade since the SNP train operating geniuses took over, RMT goons make up new propoganda as to why thats happened yet they don't understand anything about how to actually improve the service they just want to resist change. Again using Christmas to cause misery for millions of people who just want to see their families, this has backfired HUGELY for the unions

Yes I want the European operators to run our trains because in Europe the trains run 100 times better they have a modern workforce who's only thought is to improve the service!

The tax payer put in £300,000 per rail employee to keep folks in a job during covid and train usage is down more than 20% since the pandemic (RMT Propaganda machine says its at 99% which is laughable when you look at the stats for how many people are now working from home!)

No I'm done paying for this level of inefficiency and I want the train operators and government to fix this once and for all.

Nurses - definitely underpaid, but that starts along time ago, today there is a body that independently sets their pay and they don't like the answer so they are striking asking for 19% ho ho ho I don't think so.
 
Neil McRae said:
Unions are the cause of 90% of the UK's failings, because of union resistance and inaction the steel, coal, car and manufacturing trades have been totally hollowed out; the car industry in the UK should be bigger than it is in Germany, but nope thanks to the union its not even a tenth of what it is in Germany.

Don't like what you are getting paid or how the company runs? It's easy, just leave and get a different job where the pay is good and the conditions are better.

Royal Mail losing money day after day because they can't compete. And yes the going rate for delivery has gone down because of competition and idiots like Dave Ward that have no idea what the real world is like think that they can go on as they are forever!

RM are losing £400m a year, a million quid a day set on fire every day! The letters business is a joke and Amazon are getting bigger and better than the RM for parcels.

The posties, who are a good bunch, lead by donkeys in the union sadly, with the union basically sealing their fate of much more aggressive cuts and changes, you say bad journalism? how? Really its actually bad unionism with the union demanding a pay rise for no improvement in efficiency - and claiming conditions BS. Meanwhile RM hire people at the market rate that their competition are hiring and the union promising them gold aand if they join and keep the union barons in their cushy jobs whilst calling each other comrades and brothers :D :D :D RM is going bust if they don't change thats the stark reality. And they hold the tax paying public with a gun to their head at Christmas, No freaking way.

Rail situation is a joke also, with union propaganda around international shareholders and what seniors management is paid (which is the going rate for that job), or should the rail companies pay 40K for the CEO and hire some rando of the street? Its totally irrelevant to how the trains operate and the greed of the union. They think nationalisation is the answer and the moron union barons who state that don't even know the question let alone the answer; so thats why Scotrail has been on strike? That nationalisation is going really well, with the performance the worst it has been in a decade since the SNP train operating geniuses took over, RMT goons make up new propoganda as to why thats happened yet they don't understand anything about how to actually improve the service they just want to resist change. Again using Christmas to cause misery for millions of people who just want to see their families, this has backfired HUGELY for the unions

Yes I want the European operators to run our trains because in Europe the trains run 100 times better they have a modern workforce who's only thought is to improve the service!

The tax payer put in £300,000 per rail employee to keep folks in a job during covid and train usage is down more than 20% since the pandemic (RMT Propaganda machine says its at 99% which is laughable when you look at the stats for how many people are now working from home!)

No I'm done paying for this level of inefficiency and I want the train operators and government to fix this once and for all.

Nurses - definitely underpaid, but that starts along time ago, today there is a body that independently sets their pay and they don't like the answer so they are striking asking for 19% ho ho ho I don't think so.
Click to expand...
Neil -
Neil McRae said:
Unions are the cause of 90% of the UK's failings, because of union resistance and inaction the steel, coal, car and manufacturing trades have been totally hollowed out; the car industry in the UK should be bigger than it is in Germany, but nope thanks to the union its not even a tenth of what it is in Germany.

Don't like what you are getting paid or how the company runs? It's easy, just leave and get a different job where the pay is good and the conditions are better.

Royal Mail losing money day after day because they can't compete. And yes the going rate for delivery has gone down because of competition and idiots like Dave Ward that have no idea what the real world is like think that they can go on as they are forever!

RM are losing £400m a year, a million quid a day set on fire every day! The letters business is a joke and Amazon are getting bigger and better than the RM for parcels.

The posties, who are a good bunch, lead by donkeys in the union sadly, with the union basically sealing their fate of much more aggressive cuts and changes, you say bad journalism? how? Really its actually bad unionism with the union demanding a pay rise for no improvement in efficiency - and claiming conditions BS. Meanwhile RM hire people at the market rate that their competition are hiring and the union promising them gold aand if they join and keep the union barons in their cushy jobs whilst calling each other comrades and brothers :D :D :D RM is going bust if they don't change thats the stark reality. And they hold the tax paying public with a gun to their head at Christmas, No freaking way.

Rail situation is a joke also, with union propaganda around international shareholders and what seniors management is paid (which is the going rate for that job), or should the rail companies pay 40K for the CEO and hire some rando of the street? Its totally irrelevant to how the trains operate and the greed of the union. They think nationalisation is the answer and the moron union barons who state that don't even know the question let alone the answer; so thats why Scotrail has been on strike? That nationalisation is going really well, with the performance the worst it has been in a decade since the SNP train operating geniuses took over, RMT goons make up new propoganda as to why thats happened yet they don't understand anything about how to actually improve the service they just want to resist change. Again using Christmas to cause misery for millions of people who just want to see their families, this has backfired HUGELY for the unions

Yes I want the European operators to run our trains because in Europe the trains run 100 times better they have a modern workforce who's only thought is to improve the service!

The tax payer put in £300,000 per rail employee to keep folks in a job during covid and train usage is down more than 20% since the pandemic (RMT Propaganda machine says its at 99% which is laughable when you look at the stats for how many people are now working from home!)

No I'm done paying for this level of inefficiency and I want the train operators and government to fix this once and for all.

Nurses - definitely underpaid, but that starts along time ago, today there is a body that independently sets their pay and they don't like the answer so they are striking asking for 19% ho ho ho I don't think so.
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Neil - you are wrong about nurses . There are 47 nurses vacancies in my old job - not one applicant after being advertised 3 times - they take your advice and go elsewhere and earn more 😀 nurses leaving in droves . Not just about their wages but conditions - my nursing colleagues are charged 12 pounds a day to park at Glasgow hospitals and are treated like rubbish - I have 2 friends that have signs of PTSD after ITU Covid experience - no support offered . Also nurses are not leaving A&E ,ITU , geriatrics , children etc uncovered . It’s just non urgent ops and out patients which were backed up for years before Covid - I wish MPs had an independent pay body - that would teach them 😃
 
My sister is a nurse.
She is happy with her pay, not gonna say what’s she’s on basic but it’s half decent
She works contracted 37.5 hrs per week and gets 1.5 for overtime and double time for holidays.
She’s just bought a new house so is happy working every hour going…
She’s even working Xmas day
 
Neil McRae said:
Yes I want the European operators to run our trains because in Europe the trains run 100 times better they have a modern workforce who's only thought is to improve the service
Click to expand...

How's that going for you considering it's been that way since 1996? (when privatisation happened)
They run better in Europe because they're nationalised and topped off with our money.
They also have unions in Europe 🤔
Doesn't France have a lot of industrial action?🤔

Abellio run Greater Anglia, did run Northern and Scotrail (till the gov took Scotrail off them)
Abellio is owned by Nederlandse Spoorwegen who are the Dutch nationalised railway.

A guard/conductor on NS earns around 50k Depending on other factors including seniority it can reach 60k
Better pay than conductors here, infact double) Infact we're trying to get rid of our guards/conductors😒

So a nationalised railway, running 100 times better than ours (your words) than our privatised railway.
I suppose we're funding their improvements and pay considering our network falls into disrepair.

There's so rail unions in the Netherlands who have had disputes in the past

Weird eh.
Almost like something is wrong with our system, nothing to do with unions or nationalisation.

(I can use the Netherlands as an example as I have friends over there, have spent a bit of time over there, plus the Abellio Greater Anglia link so don't have to waste much time getting the facts)
 
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Mean while my parcel arrived from China in 12 days, a very important solicitors letter I posted next day delivery sign for took 4 days.
 
Sako-TRG said:
My sister is a nurse.
She is happy with her pay, not gonna say what’s she’s on basic but it’s half decent
She works contracted 37.5 hrs per week and gets 1.5 for overtime and double time for holidays.
She’s just bought a new house so is happy working every hour going…
She’s even working Xmas day
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I have just retired after 40 years as a nurse and loved it - felt privileged and honoured to help people at their most vulnerable - I was a senior nurse so paid okay - was not an issue so much for me but it’s the lowest paid profession for a degree and nurses also leaving due to bad management ,and micro managemet . . The nursing home I used to stay in - is now full of managers and their assistants - i could order morphine etc but not a ball point pen without a manager signing my request - I took early retirement after covid as the whole NHS Lanarkshire is understaffed . New and old nurses leaving - vacancies unfilled and no beds . It is not acceptable that elderly are lying waiting in pain for an ambulance and then
Lying in a trolley for 24 hours in a corridor . That’s shocking management and it’s heartbreaking .
 
ailsaclunie said:
I have just retired after 40 years as a nurse and loved it - felt privileged and honoured to help people at their most vulnerable - I was a senior nurse so paid okay - was not an issue so much for me but it’s the lowest paid profession for a degree and nurses also leaving due to bad management ,and micro managemet . . The nursing home I used to stay in - is now full of managers and their assistants - i could order morphine etc but not a ball point pen without a manager signing my request - I took early retirement after covid as the whole NHS Lanarkshire is understaffed . New and old nurses leaving - vacancies unfilled and no beds . It is not acceptable that elderly are lying waiting in pain for an ambulance and then
Lying in a trolley for 24 hours in a corridor . That’s shocking management and it’s heartbreaking .
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My sister moved to Occupational Health for a spell then went back to Nursing (Greater Glasgow and Clyde)… think she missed it…and was better money for her due to the additional OT
 
Seems to be a few rail guys on here so…
Genuine question:
Why did all the Virgin mainline trains operating West Coast smell of burning brakes + p1ss and Sh1t?
Disgusting 🤮
Stopped using the service , mainly cause I felt physically sick when I arrived at my destination
Also, the trains felt extremely dirty.
I used them a lot but bit the bullet… even for small jobs I preferred to jump in my vehicle from Scotland to London.
Is the Avanti West Coast trains any better?
 
Sako-TRG said:
Seems to be a few rail guys on here so…
Genuine question:
Why did all the Virgin mainline trains operating West Coast smell of burning brakes + p1ss and Sh1t?
Disgusting 🤮
...
Is the Avanti West Coast trains any better?
Click to expand...

When you say they did, when was it?
I won't know for sure but from my own experience a lot of old stock which used to flush your waste onto the track had to be modified (due to rules a decade or more ago) to have waste tanks on the trains as it's not nice to have stinky stations and spray rail workers with waste.

I think retrofitting old stock was problematic in some cases due to space and the tanks would fill up too quickly with them being unable to be emptied until the final stop (sometimes this can't happen if the trains delayed and has a quicker turnaround).
So you get this waste sloshing about and due to some flaws in designs (on our stock, might be similar for Virgin), there was nowhere for the odours to be captured so it comes out into the train.


That's my best guess!
New stock is often better as it's designed to have retention tanks so I'd say the new Avanti stock probably doesn't have that problem although they might still have some old Virgin stock in use.
 
Thanks..
It was circa 2011 - 2015
I used to do some work on Network Rail infrastructure - data comms in the main interchange stations and travelled a lot on the trains in that period. Also looked at WiFi solutions on the trains.
I had to conduct surveys with cellular / router equipment up and down those routes….
Was just an awful experience…due to the smell
 
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The parking for hospital staff is scandalous. The former Mrs Gonzo is/was a midwife and despite there being an ample onsite carpark she has to walk close to a mile to her car after a 13/14 hour shift. Nurses are ridiculously underpaid although the money haemorrhaging to temp agency's needs sorting because a nurse is better off leaving the NHS and working bank shifts at precisely the the same hospital doing the same job for more money.

It's not a great deal better for patients either to be fair. When my daughter was 6 months old she was rushed to hospital and spent the best part of a week in a critical condition. We had no idea at the time and paid for a few hours parking. Anyway, things escalated and she needed an urgent procedure, stopped breathing and we obviously stayed by her side and moved the car in the morning. Not only did we get a ticket but a fine followed which was passed onto one bailiff after another and went from £60 to £800 within a year. No appeal, no understanding, no nothing.

As for the postal & rail strikes . . . . . I get the premise. They're teaching the government & fat cat shareholders a lesson right? Whilst the crosshairs might be focused on government it's the public who are getting shot.

The unions know full well that Whitehall has it's own fleet and will be able to get to work during strike time. This has been contrived and planned to stop normal people getting gifts at Christmas and to inconvenience them at a time when they'll most want to visit loved ones. They are FULLY aware who they are punishing but the public are seen as fair collateral and leverage. That's pretty much as low as it gets.
 
The Scottish Government have bought out all hospital car parks from those PFI schemes introduced by previous governments. Dundee and Glasgow cost 35m.
 
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