Railway union workers industrial and strike action - 2022

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

Overtime bans imclude depot staff. So little Sunday maintenance, abd reduced maintenance during week too due to overtime ban means reduced stock availability.

The 48 hour strikes mean no maintenance on those days too, mrleaning maintenance regime is well behind, on exams too.

Chiltern having same problems - only enough stock in their case to run 4 tph^▸ (trains per hour) in each direction, about 10 trains-worth (or 20 units) available each day.

Of course, SWT^▸ (South West Trains) have electric 4car/5car units & more maintenance depot capacity than Chiltern. But that may still be a limiting factor for them

[grahame]

Chiltern having same problems - only enough stock in their case to run 4 tph^▸ (trains per hour) in each direction, about 10 trains-worth (or 20 units) available each day.

Of course, SWT^▸ (South West Trains) have electric 4car/5car units & more maintenance depot capacity than Chiltern. But that may still be a limiting factor for them

With 20 serviceable units, 10 trains running each of 2 units is an option, and as I read it that is the normal train length. The other option is to run 20 trains but shorter than normal - and that's going to lead to the sort of thing we see in GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) land on Cardiff to Portsmouth, where a single unit of just 2 cars may be run in place of a scheduled 5 car service.

[Timmer]

Neither are on walk-outs this week. Overtime bans at worst.

So SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) are apparently saying they can only run 47% of their scheduled weekday services without overtime. And staff are saying crew rooms are full of staff doing nothing other than clocking in for their contracted hours.

Someone is lying.

Paul Clifton retweeted this earlier:
https://twitter.com/disgruntledgrd/status/1605600521401913346?s=61&t=f4ZQtM_8E-2AbS3j-QEiOg

[ChrisB]

With 20 serviceable units, 10 trains running each of 2 units is an option, and as I read it that is the normal train length.

That's effectively what they're doing in 4 routes, as far as Oxford Parkway/Banbury/Aylesbury (via 2 routes), so 4 diagrams @ 1tph each way. For limited hours 0800-2200.

[ChrisB]

Workers on London's new Elizabeth line to walkout in row over pay just weeks after it fully opened

From MSN

Workers on London's Elizabeth Line will strike on January 12 in a dispute over pay and pensions, Prospect and the TSSA^» (Transport Salaried Staffs' Association - about) rail union has announced.

The walkouts by staff at Rail for London (Infrastructure) Limited, which runs the Elizabeth Line, will be followed by more than a month of 'work-to-rule' action, in which staff will work contracted hours and shifts only.

Officials said the action will cause 'significant disruption' to the new cross-London line in the first strike since it began to open in May this year.

The announcement comes just weeks after the cross-London line fully opened.

Members of the union will strike in an ongoing dispute over pay and proposed changes to pensions after a ballot with 80 percent turn out saw 90 percent of workers vote to strike.

The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association said staff on parts of the line who are contractors have been offered an 8.2 percent pay rise, while those employed directly have been offered just four percent.

The union rejected an offer of a four percent rise this year and a 4.4 percent rise next year.

TSSA Organiser Mel Taylor said: 'Our members have sent the company a very clear message that they are not prepared to be pushed around on pay and pensions.

'The result of our ballot shows the strength of feeling and that is why we will be moving very quickly to take strike action and action short of a strike in the new year.

'Frankly, we have been left with little option because we know workers at Rail for London Infrastructure (RfLI) are being paid significantly less than equivalent colleagues across the TfL^» (Transport for London - about) network.

'That is simply not good enough. Our members have the power to bring the Elizabeth Line to a standstill and the company must now wake up to that fact and get back round the table.

'We are always open to talks, but only if there's a much-improved deal in the offing, one which puts our members on a par with those in the outsourced parts of the Elizabeth Line.'

Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect, said: 'Our members have worked incredibly hard to get the Elizabeth Line ready to go safely into operation yet are being treated significantly worse than equivalent workers on the rest of London's network.

'They have been left with no option but to take this action.

'We remain open to negotiation and it is our hope that RfLI will come back to the table with an offer sufficient to avert industrial action.

'The Elizabeth Line is bringing in substantial revenue so there is no reason why there can't be some movement on pay.'

Of course, TfL is currently bust, but don't let that bother the TSSA

[Chris from Nailsea]

As the original topic, from which I have split off these posts, was 64 pages long, I've now broken that topic down into more manageable 'calendar year' chunks - purely for ease of reference.

CfN.