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Out of all the industrial sectors in Britain, the rail workers have done better than nearly everyone else, so yes i do respect what they do.
Oh i have no doubt that sooner or later the powers that be will have them over, automation will take over, and the last net blue collar contributor to our economy has been made redundant and we subsidise over 50% of our working (in our wonderful service industries..pause for guffaw) population, and we have a national debt of £2trillion we can't ever pay back...just not sure as this auto utopia will be quite as wonderful when we get there, but as usual i digress.
Transport sector of road haulage allowed itself to be taken apart piece by piece, our jobs deskilled and semi automated leading to further deskilling, the roads are not safer for this, many of our workers demoralised and brainwashed into unions are bad mindframe, which is as far from the truth as its possible to get.
Thing is unions are not the general secretaries, nor the politicos nor the social or greasy pole climbers, the union is the members at local level paying their small dues and sticking togther to negotiate decent deals for themselves on a local level.
I've been in TGWU (now Unite) for many years, i've driven lorries for 40 years, i've had bad jobs and i've been lucky enough to have been in some of the best jobs in the sector at any given time...didn't manage to get onto Ford's own car transporters mind which is probably the best industrial job in the country, not that lucky..:-)...but all the good jobs i've had have been unionised with proper terms and conditions, partly why i stayed on the car tarnsporters for so many years, and believe you me there are some really bad lorry jobs out there in surprisingly household name companies where drivers are working 70 hour weeks (yes its possible) to make only a liveable wage.
The poor end are not unionised, hence they are taken advantage of.
Being unionised doesn't mean we take advantage of the company, though it must be said there are those who do take advantage of rpoper sick pay etc, but there are enough of us who do know which side our bread is buttered to make up the shorfall for short sighted selfish idiots...which it has to be said teh company itself employed, not us genuine workers who would not have given them the time of day.
Most of us have enough grey matter to know if you have a good job you look after it or it won't be a good job for long.
The rail workers did not allow their jobs to be deskilled, they stuck together, they still have industrial strength, no sorry i do respect them and long may they continue to be a bunch of well paid union members who support each other and stay at the top earnings levels, they are people who those in other industries should seek to emulate not decry through the modern politics of envy.
By the way Aslef and RMT are the only two unions (as far as i know) who recommended Brexit for their members, that speaks volumes.
There, bet you wish you never asked..:-))))
Edited by gordonbennet on 13/08/2016 at 23:29
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