peggydeckboy:
Well written dennis,and yes as a ex BRS DRIVER 1969 1980 you are correct but that was what nationalization was about like all the other industries
we had in this country that all went to the wall, but so what why let one man make loads of money ,why not let everyone have a little slice of a easy good life… look now ,where is the profit, we are all the same, work ,earn money, live ,if everything was nationalized now would it be better than all the private firms having problems…
I’m all for everyone getting a fair share of the pot but it has to work both ways. Why should someone who puts in a good days work get the same pay as someone who slacks off at every opportunity? A strong union is not there just to protect the weak. It also should accept the responsibility for weeding out the bad apples (in conjunction with the management) so that the business survives for the benefit of the good workers. However, I also believe, that it is the responsibility of the management to help the union(s) in this task. Rather than confrontation there has to be co-operation. JawJaw not War War and all that.
Another problem that BRS suffered from was that when the industry was de-nationalised they were effectively left with the rump of the business. The only parts that were taken back into private control were the profitable operations. I’d like to say that the fact they remained in business for another 40 years was down to the management but it was due to various governments not having the bottle to deal with the problems. Whilst it is certainly true that the management didn’t see the need to make a profit this was also the attitude of governments (of both hues). Even when the decision to privatise the business was made the government still made an arse of it. As far as I can recall the buyout price was £4m - the value of the land that was owned by the NFC group companies was over £120m. It goes to show how poorly managed the business was that they managed to burn through this windfall within 10 years.
So, in conclusion, a nationalised transport industry could only work if there was no competition and ALL the management was dedicated to the project. Unfortunately that’s two things you would never have.