Rail Strikes - Truss / Trevelyan / Charles era

[whole diary]

[REVUpminster]

Lucy Frazer KC MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) I believe was appointed Rail Minister of State this morning

Ely, Waterbeach, Soham, Dullingham, Shippea Hill, Histon (if you call that a station) ...

Confirmed on twitter to be Kevin Foster….appears Truss had a change of mind

Torre, Torquay, Paignton, Goodrington Sands

Goodrington Sands hasn't been open for some time and Edginswell still to open.

I've met Kevin Foster a few times. He knows a 143 from a 150. Last time I saw him was on the platform at Newton Abbot (stilll no sign of the second entrance there) when he was getting an early train to Paddington and he showed me an app on his phone to get a £10 upgrade to first class.

[grahame]

Hardly any trains today or Saturday ... a few more tomorrow and Friday.  But then no further dates set, am I right on that?   Didn't I read that our new SoS has met the rail union bosses, and also that she has told the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) to be a bit more flexible and meet the unions somewhere in the middle?   If so, is that "meet in the middle" properly supported from the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) or an instruction to do something pretty darned impractical?

If things are moving forward, why are we enduring a strike today and continued action for the next three days?  Muscle has already been shown and perhaps it's time for talking?

[IndustryInsider]

Have dates for future action been advertised before when already announced dates are still to pass?

The Tory conference was an obvious target, but it might well be that there will be a little bit of a pause now, but still send a very strong message of intent by completing these already announced dates.

For the unions it’s a case of not risking the strike collapsing by taking too frequent  action and staff not being able to afford the dent in their wages.

[ChrisB]

The new SoS has said that she met the unions to get a handle for herself….norhing I’ve seen about any instruction to TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) though.

With the RMTs^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) mandate running out at the snd of November, they’ll be re-ballotingvto extend their mandate for a further 6 months this week or next. But I think they’ll try & fit another ‘round’ of strikes in before this one expires…

The SoS is the first to be more flexible as it is the Government requiring no higher than 2% without additional changes to T&Cs. See the RDG^‡(resolve)’s thread on twitter this morning setting out the cost of £280million for a 5% rise which is more than the total ‘profit’ built into the TOCs management contracts. Thus an additional cost to the taxpayer, unable to he covered by the TOCs profits as the unions say should happen.

[grahame]

The new SoS has said that she met the unions to get a handle for herself….norhing I’ve seen about any instruction to TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) though.

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63158807

On Wednesday, Ms Trevelyan told the BBC she wanted unions and train operators to "come together and find something that we can all live with".

She continued "nothing is ever perfect, negotiations are compromises, but what we need is for our customers, our passengers to be at the centre of everyone's decision making."

Since taking up her post last month, the Transport Secretary has met the leaders of the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) and Aslef unions. She also told the BBC she would also meet the train companies over the next few weeks.