Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

That's a hell of a deal

Whats to consult ,any other worker would snatch their employers hand of :rolleyes:

ah so LU have bottled it then with the olympics coming up

no kidding

http://news.sky.com/home/business/article/16081693

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Give it 12 months and I'm sure Bob Crow will find something else to whine about, which of course will lead to more strikes.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

It'll backfire..

The DLR routinely operates with no actual driver on the train (although there is a member of staff who can take control, closes the doors and checks tickets). The Victoria and Jubilee lines can also operate the same way...

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

This is absolutely repugnant, and offensive to Londoners who are feeling the squeeze of below inflation pay rises or freezes.

*Taps a quick and unhappy email to Boris and TfL.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

I think that the tube users should boycott the tube in protest

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

It's not even protecting the Olympics from strikes so Bob can hold LU to ransom over that separately for heaven's sake. Pathetic.

---------- Post added at 23:43 ---------- Previous post was at 23:01 ----------

I'm rather hoping to see what Boris has to say about this, given we've Osborne and Pickles getting all hard on unions Boris capitulating to the RMT in this alleged time of austerity where we're all in it together.

Handing a pay rise of this level to the RMT is an insult to Londoners receiving below inflation pay rises and seeing well above inflation fare rises, it's an insult to the entire public sector who are seeing pensions and salaries put under pressure, and it's an insult to everyone who voted for Boris in the mayoral election.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Absolutely disgusting :mad:

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

I think we should give the Londeners a £50 bonus in their benefits too. we don't want them rioting again and scaring the foreigners.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Personally i think anything over £20,000 for pressing a button to go forwards and another to stop is a good deal. There are some who disagree though.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...-deserve-50000

So by that logic anyone in the armed forces deserves a huge increase. Bus drivers who are more likely to hit someone should be on 100k plus and paramedics should get a gold plated private jet for possibly dealing with some blood.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Would this be the same Boris who in the london mayor elections of 2008 called for a no strike deal with the tube unions,which he has not delivered on as yet.

---------- Post added at 16:50 ---------- Previous post was at 16:28 ----------

Seems there are lots of special deals in the public services


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...ing-phone.html

I work in the public service myself and have always answered the phone when off duty for free ie no payment.

The tube unions use their power no doubt but so do other vested interests wrongly in my view.:(

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Except thats a lie or at best very selective journalism the kind of which I'd expect to see in the pages of the Daily Mail.

So someone at the very top of their wage bracket, who happens to be on-call such as a negotiator or firearms advisor, has to deal with something outwith their normal hours before the payment is triggered. It's not a blank cheque the second the phone rings.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

And what about the emergency services who actually have to remove the dead bodies from under the trains (the drivers don't have to do that), and don't get paid anywhere near the drivers.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

In the article it stated even constables who had just joined could get these payments.

Even a newly trained constable earning around £25,000 would pocket £64 for a similar call.



But the point i was trying to make was this certain groups of workers tube being the obvious example seem to get very good deals due to their power,rightly or wrongly the police seem to do very well.

Wheras the soldiers that fight for the freedom of our country die for very little reward.

All over the public sector be it tube drivers or any other employee needs to have a proper structure which appears to be delivered by the power wielded and nothing else.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Except a newly trained constable would probably never get a similar call.

Anyway as has been mentioned before I reckon it's getting close to the tipping point where automated trains will be cheaper than continually caving in the demands of the union.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Yes i agree wih you on that point automated trains probably are the future on the tube at least, and yes i do think the union make too many demands at present would really have liked to see a no strike deal as in the old barbara castle plan years ago "in place of strife"which even in the late sixties aimed at no strike deals.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

could I point the Fail's article didn't state it had happened, but that it could.. ( which usually means it hasn't, otherwise they would have printed that).

They appear to be taking a hypothetical example to an extreme...:rolleyes:

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

I am in full support of any increase tube drivers get, do you know how much stress that they are under in the tunnels.

At any time someone can jump in front of you cab, a friend of mine works for British Rail or South West as they are called, he had two jumpers in the same week.

I would not do that job for £100.000 a week,.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

that's why they do it for £55,000 ;)

seriously though Arthur ,as has been pointed out that logic can be applied to any kind of driving job .There are limits as to what a job is worth and imo a tube driver is not worth £55,000 p/a plus extras

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Do you drive a car? Are you aware that someone can jump in front of your car at any point? :dozey:

I've scraped someone off the tracks when they decided to go for a sit down in front of a train and end it all. It wasn't pretty but I got on with it because it was part of my job and I sure as hell didn't moan about it and demand my pay got doubled.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

To be perfectly honest i don't think the argument that the drivers suffer if someone jumps onto the tracks will have crossed anyones minds during the negotiations .The members are just taking advantage of a union leader who is out to make a name for himself by blackmailing the city of london and he knows he can get away with it because should the tubes go on strike for any meaningful amount of time the city would grind to a halt under the sheer numbers that switch to cars or buses

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

How much would they need to pay you to recover body parts, or people mangled under trains then, like the emergency services do??

---------- Post added at 21:35 ---------- Previous post was at 21:33 ----------

It is probably more to do with the fact that the transport minister is terrified that the transport system could grind to a halt during the olympics. Shame they aren't also paying those that will have to deal with any incidents the same sort of money. They are just being told to do their job.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Good luck to them I say.

This is the free market at work. Although I dislike Bob Crow he's got them quite a deal.

LU are happy to pay it.

At the end of the day, you're worth whatever someones willing to pay you for your services.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Sorry Pierre but that's ridiculous, it's not even close to being the free market at work. In a free market these guys would've been fired and replaced by cheaper staff, of which there's no shortage who'd do the job for less.

As it is it's a pretty much closed shop, they've their nice benefits packages, cannot be made compulsorily redundant, in short all the most market distorting aspects of public sector employment.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

And where would they have got all these replacement drivers from, and how quickly would they have recruited them, trained them and have them in place - all whilst still maintaining a service.

So the train drivers are leveraging their position to get the best possible deal for themselves....and anyone on this forum would do any different for themselves????

It's collective bargining, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Sounds like the police force.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

The police force can't strike Pierre.

Thank you for taking back what you said though - as you noted the train drivers are 'leveraging their position', absolutely nothing to do with the free market at all an entirely closed market no different from a monopoly supplier of goods ramping the price of them up the arse because they can.

I guess given you're fine with the tube drivers doing this you'd be fine with having monopoly suppliers of things other than labour leveraging their position to get the best possible deal for themselves?

Didn't think so.

Perhaps if you were on the receiving end of their constant petulant strops, had the pleasure of trying to get to and from work when they are extorting London for more money or among the millions seeing their own salaries go up below inflation if at all, including workers far more skilled and in peril than tube drivers yet paid far less, while looking to 7-8% fare increases on LU you'd have a different opinion.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

I'm not taking anything back, LU are free to decline the pay demands.

Leveraging your position in a free market economy is fundamental to potential success or potential failure.

I don't have to worry about that, as there is a monopolies commission.

Get the bus

If your jealous of their career, then apply to be tube driver.

That last paragraph could be applied to a dozen other professions I don't see the need to single out tube drivers

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

As previously noted it's a monopoly, not a free market position.

Why would we want one? 'Leveraging your position in a free market economy is fundamental to potential success or potential failure' after all. Companies with monopolies overcharging is purely leveraging their position surely?

Spoken like someone with no idea what they're talking about. Come down to London during a tube strike.

I'm not, I wouldn't take the pay cut. I didn't realise you'd go to the childish 'If you're jealous' arguments so quickly though I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

They are already hugely overpaid and work in a public sector that's seeing cuts, pension changes and pay freezes. That's the simple reason to single them out, they're getting special treatment which is entirely undeserved.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

As I said the LU are free to refute their pay demands at any time.

Companies leverage their position all the time, how do you think Tesco got to be so successful, they leverage their position as the largest supermarket to screw their suppliers, and potential suppliers, into the ground.

Anyway we're talking about manpower and workforce.

I'm in London once a week, never during a tube strike though

doesn't that prove how vital they are though? They may not be highly skilled operatives but they keep the capital city moving.

I'm not being childish, just wondering why you object to this so much.

According to who?Unlike most other public sector positions they have a direct impact on the economy of the capital and to some extent the whole country - you could probably justify their money just on the maths of that.

If you're not happy with the current system you could always privatise the tube?

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Tube drivers to strike on Boxing Day...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16174789

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Greedy sods.

Time for an complete extension of the driverless automatic Dockland Light Railway, and that shower on the dole.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Maybe that's part of the "game". There is sympathy at the moment for strikers so to highlight groups who really don't need to strike splits some of that sympathy, makes the unions look bad.

Also it makes the workers more expensive so makes automated systems look more attractive. It also makes it harder for the workers to leave as they wouldn't get paid so well elsewhere. (It's expensive to hire and train replacements).

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Here we go again, Have ago at someone who is trying to get decent agreements.

I for one WOULD NOT be a tube driver, no matter what they get paid, can you imagine sitting there for 8 hours, driving a tube train, and then bang someone jumps in front of you, train crashes etc.

What people don't realise, anything can happen in a tunnel, I know its a well paid job and l have done a few, but one thing for certain l would not be and that is driving trains.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

I think we need to give them all £1000 each or something to come in and work Boxing Day. we need them so £1000 each is worth it.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

What do you mean "we"?

Surely you mean "people in London"?

Getting back on topic, I don't know anyone who is paid quadruple time (3x normal rate and a time off in lieu) for working a Bank Holiday.

That's not negotiating, Arthur, that's blackmail.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Yes, we.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

There is already an agreement in place.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

To start with Arthur the drivers don't sit there for 8 hrs and so what if someone does jump out in front of them ,sad i know ,but no different from any other driver .Many workers don't even get overtime rates anymore and haven't for years .All they are going to achieve is upsetting the public when they strike and pushing prices up so YOU HAVE TO PAY MORE .They are greedy blackmailers

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

We don't live in London - well, I don't.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Well you're not the we then.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

You do realise that only a fraction of tube drivers actually have to deal with the problems you describe, yet they are paid considerably more than the paramedics who can be required to deal with horrors like that a lot more often? (http://www.prospects.ac.uk/paramedic_salary.htm)

Yes, the job is boring. Probably not that much more boring than driving a bus. A job that attracts an annual salary of £23,000 (http://www.mysalary.co.uk/average-salary/Bus_Driver_366) . The average salary for a tube driver is going to be £52,000 soon.. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...pound-50000.do

What do they do that deserves that salary? Start and stop the train? Deal with stroppy passengers? Deal with injured passengers? Bus drivers do all that and more for half the salary. Do they work long hours? Depends if you call 35 hours a week long. I don't. I call it average.

Personally, as a commuter (although an infrequent user of the tube, I do pay towards it through my travelcard), I think the day when TFL upgrade the trains to driverless operation (similar to the DLR) cannot come soon enough.

Although the unions are being stupid in this. You can bet that while TFL are agreeing to pay these exhorbitant salaries, they are looking for ways to replace the drivers*. Drivers who wont get anywhere near their TFL salary in the private sector.

*You think they can't? The signalling system currently installed on the Jubilee line is apparently a variation on that used on the DLR, so is probably perfectly capable of operating without a driver safely. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to image that system being installed on other lines as well.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Decent agreements??? Holding the city to ransom more like, guaranteed they'll find a ludicrous excuse to ignore the 'no strike' arrangements just before the Olympics to try and get an even bigger payout.

As for being a tube driver? Damn right I would. Almost doubling my pay, not having to put my life on the line attending calls and pressing a button to go forwards and another to stop without having to worry about changing lanes or traffic merging.

Being a lorry or bus driver is far more taxing and dangerous that a train driver, people might end up under the wheels but that can happen with any form of transport.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Neither are you....

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

So what? The average is four jumpers so quite different from any other driver and I'm one of those workers that doesn't get overtime for working over Christmas, doesn't mean I want others t&c's brought down to my level though.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

tbf, TD, there's a big difference between not getting overtime (and I think people should) and getting quadruple time.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

For 55K I'd be a tube driver...It beats the average teacher's wage any day.:rolleyes:

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

doesn't mean they should be exhorbitant either

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

And I don't see why they should get more than nurses,carers teachers,nursery workers,firemen,coastguards,servicemen and thousands of public sector workers

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

No it probably shouldn't be but there seems to a bit of an over reaction from all parts of the country about it and in particular how unfair it is that they have such a good deal, well my take on it is yes they do have very good t&c's but instead of dragging them down to most others levels lets try and improve everyone elses up to their level, the working time regulations kicking in next year should make for an interesting start.

---------- Post added at 20:30 ---------- Previous post was at 20:29 ----------

Except Saturday, Sunday and six weeks in the summer, then it's very comparable.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

I'd still do it.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Shows how much you know about the hours teachers work to be honest.

Yes they get that time off in the middle of the year and the other holidays, they don't get 43 days paid leave to take whenever as a tube drive does and certainly the teachers I know have to work weekends in order to get lessons planned and do their marking and admin. They don't have the luxury of working for 35 hours a week and disappearing off home, they work closer to twice that during term time.

Taking a teacher and tube driver and trying to claim they're comparable is farcical. One is underpaid for what is a post-graduate position, poorly treated and has an immensely stressful job, the other massively overpaid for what is at most semi-skilled labour, protected from most of the same issues the rest of us have to deal with as they can hold their employer at ransom, and have conditions of employment well beyond anything most can hope for.

---------- Post added at 22:22 ---------- Previous post was at 22:14 ----------

Talking to a driver on First Great Western who's had a few one unders he got nicely desensitised to them, and moreover had no problems at all after the first one. He found the first one somewhat traumatic though not for very long, the next one he enjoyed the months of paid time off for something he was relatively indifferent to.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

There are also the matter of after school activities like staff meetings, sports,plays,parents evenings and in the case of secondary teachers, extra coaching classes for GCSE students sometimes before school,sometimes afterwards,sometimes at weekends.Also many staff give up some holidays to take students on field trips.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

I would also add that during the school holidays (summer ,easter ,half terms ) i work in a lot of schools putting new windows/doors in as that is the most convenient and practible time and it has to said that there are always teachers and other school staff floating about preparing classrooms/lessons ect

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Yeah teacher training was wasted on me :rolleyes:


Lucky him, perhaps if he had to clean to goo of the train he might not be so blase about it next time.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

I support them on the basis inflation is rampant.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

4.8% rampant?

Try 16%, as in the 80s....

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

I reckon bus drivers get a much worse deal than their underground equivalents. There's not much separating them from all the fare dodgers and generally nasty types they come face to face with on a daily basis and I reckon driving around London on congested roads getting shouted at, beeped at and worse is generally lot more stressful than driving a tube rain.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Evidently it was wasted on you, or left you quite bitter towards the profession if you equate a 3 year degree, a year PGCE, basically no paid leave as it has to be in school holidays and working 70 hours a week in term times with saying 'Mind the doors' and pushing a lever backwards and forwards for 35 hours a week, with 43 days of paid leave per year after a matter of weeks of training.

Oddly enough drivers don't clean their own trains. They drive them.

Regardless it doesn't change that this is nonsense. There's an agreement from 1996 which bakes into it the working of public holidays as part of the currently £45,545 basic, plus overtime, plus 43 days paid leave per year on a 35 hour working week.

Agreements are there for a reason, the unions try their luck every so often, this is obviously one of the more absurd examples trying to obtain a day off in lieu and triple time for a standard bank holiday which is already covered by existing compensation arrangements.

EDIT: Just to add to the hilarity the unions agreed in return for their ransom demands over the Olympics giving them the huge pay rises and bonus to not strike over pay, so this is a dispute about time off. Ya.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

In my opinon, this proves that strong unions work, The only reason that Tube Drivers are getting £55k is that they have strong unions. If more employees had strong unions, they we would have less occupy protests and less people feeling less well off

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

erm, how do you think the more people on £55k would get paid - from the magic money tree?

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

From the business elite, what would happen if more people were paid £55k would be that there would be a redistbution of wealth from the elite to average workers, creating a more equal society

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

While I agree the self-serving system of non-executive directors awarding their mates ludicrous pay levels has got to be brought under control, I'm not sure there's nearly enough money swilling around that system to fund such generous pay rises for all people whose jobs are as skilled as a tube driver, but not nearly so well paid.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Your right, maybe there is not enough money for big pay rises for all, but at the very least, can the pay gap between boss and employee be reduced, for example incresing the number of Employee-owned companies, like John Lewis

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Evidently it wasn't as it was origionally a tounge in cheek comment to Maggy's post or does your "humour" only stretch to religious debates.

If only some one told them that as I know 2 that helped get the worst of "it" of.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

rule of thumb real inflation at least double official inflation.

4.8% is high in itself, actual inflation which is easily double figures is rampant.

---------- Post added at 14:01 ---------- Previous post was at 14:01 ----------


hugh you seem very out of touch.

from the elite top 1%.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Sorry, you're not getting away with that. I hereby call your BS. Prove me wrong by providing sources to prove your statement (and this time can we please bypass the part where you insist the rest of us have to go and look for sources to prove it for you. It's your argument, if you want anyone to believe it, offer evidence to back it up).

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

What you going to say in 12-24 months time if the LU decide that the drivers wages are unsustainable and decide to automate the trains (which is very possible)putting all the drivers out of a job ...how strong will the union be then .If you look back over union history ,all have failed to keep members jobs if a alternative is available to the management .What makes you think this will be any different .In my opinion the tube drivers will eventually price themselves out of a job

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

I'm still waiting for his 'proof' that "Germany seems to manage ok without financial institutes", so don't hold your breath will you.. :)

---------- Post added at 16:08 ---------- Previous post was at 16:04 ----------

It's all Thatcher's fault?? :D

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

A classic example of "strong unions" pricing their members out of work and getting slapped back into reality

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

So try living through 32% inflation (according to your "rule of thumb"...;)).

From an out of touch viewpoint, I calculated that the average salary is £24k, so it is proposed that we pay 99% of the population an extra £31k (on average). According to the latest stats, there are 29.11 million people in work, so we would need to find an extra £893 billion to pay the "99%" an average salary of £55k, like the Tube drivers, with a total wage bill for the "99%" of £1,601 billion.

(the forecast GDP for the UK in 2011 is £1,562 billion).

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

It's only numbers though Hugh and we can simply take that money off the top 1% we hear so much about. I mean they'll certainly hang around in the good old UK and pay all those extra taxes just to make them feel better about life won't they..... :rolleyes:

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Its not hard at all.

food up by huge amounts this year alone, food I regurly buy has gone up about 30% and even managed to go up during a supposed promotion.

electric/gas up by huge amounts.

The official inflation figures get smothered down by luxury items which dont really come into basic living costs. Also if you checked into it you would find out the games played with swapping items around that are listed to get lower reported figures.

Do you honestly think inflation was running at 2% during the 200x period and is now only 4.8% now?

Maybe you well off that you dont notice these things. I dont know.

You believe everything you told by the bbc and government?

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Wow!

Amazing how you have been allowed to say this, as it has obviously been suppressed in mainstream media, especially papers like the Daily Mirror who would normally use this type of information to embarrass the Coalition Government.

btw, you never explained how we were going to pay everyone £55k salaries, when the annual wage bill came to more than the UK's GDP......

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Nationalise everything and charge everyone 110% tax rates.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Good. In that case I look forward to you providing the evidence, as opposed to anecdote and hearsay.

That depends. But broadly, if it's a choice between properly-researched journalism and the ONS on one hand, and your soapbox on the other, let's jut say I wouldn't consider taking your word over theirs to be the optimum choice.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

and, as if by magic......

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16202653

Should have 'kept my mouth shut' eh? :)

---------- Post added at 09:52 ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 ----------

Nah 110% is nowhere near enough for all those fat cats... :D

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Well if the bosses are prepared to pay such silly money up until now then maybe they should be removed from running the transport of London?:shrug:

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

What will replace tube drivers then?

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

The automated systems that drive trains on 3 of the lines already. Drivers just open and close the doors.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

You still need someone inside the train, like in the DLR, and if they go on strike then the train cannot run, we will have the same stuation as we have now

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

No we won't because they won't be on 55k a year for unskilled work

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Too expensive and all too willing to hold those who pay their wages (i.e. the travelling public) to ransom whenever it suits.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

It's the only way forward.... ;)

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

But wouldn't people then strike to get a pay rise, to pay the tax they couldn't afford?

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Fair point,But another point i have not seen mentioned although it may have been is before he won the election and came to power in London Boris Johnson was touting a no strike agreement he was going to get from the tube unions,will be interesting to see if Boris brings that up in next years mayoral election like last time.

The tube unions appear to be getting very good rises over the next few years and not a single "no strike" agreement in site.:shocked:

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

With strong unions liek the RMT and ASLEF i doubt that

---------- Post added at 15:32 ---------- Previous post was at 15:32 ----------

under UK law you need one person on the train, in the first place!

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Exactly! :) (You know I was kiddin',don't you?

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...-four-years.do


http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...-loss-fears.do

Whatever Bob Crow thinks there will be driverless trains on the LU before much longer and the more he pushes for out of proportion pay rises the faster it will happen

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

I posted the evidence, in my every day living costs.

Its enough for me. If you dont want to believe it then I leave it at that.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Your personal living costs are, for the purposes of any meaningful debate, unsubstantiated and not open to scrutiny. They don't qualify as evidence in any meaningful sense and therefore I take the perfectly justifiable option of ignoring them.

You hang around Internet forums enough to know what qualifies as evidence in any public debate. If you choose not to back up your contributions with such evidence you can't be surprised if those contributions are dismissed or simply ignored.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

I know enough on this forum yes.

to you if someone posts the bbcs or any other media outlet point of view that qualifies as fact.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Your evidence was Strange - the food we regularly buy hasn't gone up by that sort of figure (and we are shopping for a family of 3-4 (depending on the time of the year), and we shop at Morrisons every week) - our weekly bill has probably gone up from around £85 per week to about £90 per week in the last year.

And as for electricity and gas bills, ours has gone up around 15%, but we now have the rate fixed for two years, so that will even out over the years.

Somehow, our evidence seems to contradict each others (in parts) - perhaps that's why CPI is taken from a basket of around 600 items, so that outliers don't skew the figures....

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

The difference being that while they do have a reputation for being left wing, the BBC do have a reputation for researching their news stories well. You, with all due respect, can make no such claim. Neither can I. We don't know each other well enough to know how little or much research the other does.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Where is that reputation from stuart.

You seem to have a misguided view on the bbc, several of their stories have little research and are based on a single person's views only.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Laws can bee changed, especially if such a change can save UKGOV/TFL LOTS of money ;)

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16330372

Not the type of transport chaos you want on your Boxing Day trip is it.:(

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

This might cause problems, but l am in agreement with the tube strike, They are working a bank holiday and therefore entitled to what ever payment there should be.

This does cause disruption to passengers, but LU are at fault for not talking to them, and don't forget when LU put prices up for travel, does anyone complain.

This is what annoys me, businesses put prices up but my wages have been frozen for two years.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Total Rubbish and BS..They couldn't get the day off legitimately so they went on strike to get it.

I'm fed up with the gravy train that is public holidays.Because Christmas was on a Sunday many people in the public service get Tuesday off as a holiday as well which means public services are closed that day as well.The rest of the world just has to suck it up and work public holidays.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

They already get substantial extra pay for working bank holidays .Many private sector workers do no even get any extra pay or days of in lue for working bank holidays

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Triple pay and a day off in lieu is a total urine-extraction. Replace the strikers with people who would be willing to do the job for a more reasonable rate. No sympathy from me.

Re: Mind The Pay Gap? Tube Drivers 'To Get £55k'
 

Many but not all i am working or did work on christmas day,boxing day,new years eve,and new years day,as well as yes that Tuesday as well,!and i work in the public services the branch i work in the NHS, the public service has still been open 24/7 ie they have not been closed.;)

Mind you i do not suppose many teachers work bank holidays ,or council office staff so no sucking up and working for them sorts of public service employees.

However i think the tube drivers have a point not about the money however but about the day off,we are now a 24/7 kind of society wether we like it or not (nobody asked me if i would like a 27/7 culture),i do think wherever possible people should be given the option to work or not,but triple pay is a no,no.