facebook sharons essential oils & crystals are on standby 
-
-
So, the train strikes are happening and it's been fascinating to see the media approach this as the strikers are the bad guys.
Several times they've rolled out the same lines of people missing hospital appointments/Glastonbury/Armed Forces Day like this action hasn't been planned for and announced weeks ago.
However, I've absolutely enjoyed seeing Mick Lynch (General Secretary, RMT) every time he's been on telly because he's not gone easy on any reporter asking stupid questions, but remained succinct and factual with his responses, especially when he repeatedly calls one MP a liar.
I'm genuinely expecting some dirt to be dug up on him in the next few days as they try to discredit him, but what he says about the unfair distribution of wealth is spot on.
Here's a compilation of his greatest hits from the last week:
Comment
-
Are the rail workers really asking for 7%? Lol good luck with that.Comment
-
I'm sick of telling people that if we didn't have orginisations standing up for workers rights we would not have
Paid Holidays
Maximum working hours
The Minimum Wage
paternity and maternity leave
A weekend
Enforcable working contracts
for a start
and if you think this stuff would have come about naturally without the need for unions and strikes then look at the US today where workers rights are massive behind the rest of the world, Employers are not required to offer paid vacations to staff, they also don't have to offer paid paternity or maternity, and employment law is so lax you can be fired for pretty much anything with no recompense.
Its the lowest paid staff that are striking and asking for this they haven't had a pay rise in three years so its what their owed their not being greedy here.Originally posted by fishbowlhead View PostLast edited by Lebowski; 22-06-2022, 16:51.Comment
-
He is an absolutely amazing spokesperson. He clearly knows every trick and won't rise to it. He makes everyone in the room look like a fool, just because he understands that you don't respond to a loaded question with a straight answer.Originally posted by QualityChimp View PostHowever, I've absolutely enjoyed seeing Mick Lynch (General Secretary, RMT) every time he's been on telly because he's not gone easy on any reporter asking stupid questions, but remained succinct and factual with his responses, especially when he repeatedly calls one MP a liar.
I love that bit where he (quite rightly) says it's hard to debate with a politician when the topic is his area of expertise, and the MP's words are just talking points he's memorised before the interview. And the bit about the picket line is hilarious; she's trying to get him to suggest they'll use violence to support their position, trying to prod him over that line like it's The Day Today, and he turns it around and asks her to list a picket line where people got violent, exposing that she doesn't really have an example but just the vague idea that picket lines use violence - of course, she declines, because she's worried she'll list one that didn't get violent and I'm willing to bet that bloke has that information in-the-chamber ready to go.
Fantastic.
Given their less than stellar increases in recent years, I think they're asking for what inflation has taken away. Their employers can clearly afford it, they just want to give the money to their shareholders instead.Originally posted by fishbowlhead View PostComment
-
I understand their frustrations but I think as much as it goes against Labour's grain, Starmar has called it right. Underpaid or not I don't think public support is going to hold up behind these or any subsequent strikes for very long at all. The mood of the UK room just isn't right atm and it isn't going to improve. Too many people are in the same boat and they and the strikers are absolutely not going to get anything close to what they're demanding.
There's trouble coming and the unemployment line is going to get real busy again, real soon. I suspect a mass revived drive to automation in many fields is coming too to allow for low running costs and easy scaling of operations in future crisis.
Trains are a particular hot spot, let's be honest, the days of train staff were already numbered.Comment
-
Feels like the tip of the iceberg to me. Everyone is so angry and pissed, and everything is so ****ed, something has to give.
Media's already trying to play the public off against them but Mick Lynch seems to be handling it well. Good luck to them at any rate.Comment
-
That's it, there's too many things in a row now happening that are pressing on the public again and again. That the Tories are weirdly taking the stance of actively encouraging it too will just wind things up more too. I think that's why the Tories aren't getting involved in the train strike, they see it as something that will fail and engagement will encourage other sectors of work to do the same so they can just sit back and when it kicks off point at Labour.Comment
-
Call me crazy(taxinext) but the Taliban might, might get more support in theif they... you know... weren't so ****ty to everyone else
Comment
-
Ugh, I hate this.Originally posted by Neon Ignition View Post
Because I hate that my immediate response is to let them just deal with it alone, seeing as they value anti-interventionism so much.Comment
-
funny you should say that as one of the reasons their striking is their proposing massive cuts across the network to staffing, take Aviva it posted record profits (70 million last year), and they paid their CEO a 1.4 million pound bonus.Originally posted by Neon Ignition View Post
Cuts when a company is not making profits i can understand but their raking it in. Trying to cut staff and squeeze pay is inexcusable especially when the service they offer now is already extremely poor.Last edited by Lebowski; 23-06-2022, 09:27.Comment
-
A lot of it will be COVID, now that companies have seen how easily things can turn on them it highlighted how staff costs are one of the biggest burdens. Really, a lot of people are employed in roles that don't require humans to do the task so for a private company there's no negative to removing that risk factor. Everybody wants more money and job security, especially now during the cost crisis and in the face of a recession, but to Aviva I imagine that sounds like them wanting their cake and to eat it too.
Like with companies such as Amazon, they're not just posting huge profits but also coming out with multiple delivery methods that they privately own and control. The end result will be a drop in millions upon millions of deliveries by Royal Mail = staff cuts. It's not something that the operators can turn to staff and say 'you will never be fired' about which is one of the reasons all these strikes will flounder.
Teachers are in a different boat, like Nurses and Doctors, they will likely get more traction but everyone else will be spending late 2023 onward hoping they keep the jobs and pay they currently have.
The UK finally sends one of its unwanted individuals to Rwanda... sadly he's got to be back later on to 'run the country'Comment
-
It feels like a deliberate attempt to crash the economy. Its like all the companies have decided that 2025 is the end of the world so they may as well rake in as much as possible before it all goes to ****.Comment
-
If that were the case i would of sold the company last year instead of keeping up 14h days 6 days a week.Originally posted by Cassius_Smoke View PostComment
Comment