fodenway:
Here is the news - Mick Lynch, of the RMT union, speaking outside the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool today has said that many train operating companies are in crisis and “close to collapse”.
I wonder why?
Here are a few observations for you Mick :-
Trains need to carry a lot of goods and paying passengers, lots of them, in order to be financially viable.
He knows, which is why he, and many others including myself, think trains should be in public hands. This is entirely down to the sell everything to the highest bidder ethos that’s cursed this county and left us now with very few assets and much of what should be in public hands owned by foreign companies
I’m in agreement, in principle, with the nationalisation thing, as long as it’s run properly. The growing militancy and politicisation of the unions in general in the seventies was in large part a catalyst to privatisation. Dear Maggie did the country as a whole no favours in the eighties when she flogged off our utilities, communications companies, public transport operators, manufacturing industries and suchlike to (often) foreign buyers or to asset strippers, and indirectly closed down much of the rest in favour of turning Britain (otherwise known as “London”) into a financial services provider.
My point being that by taking repeated strike action the unions aren’t helping their industry, the public or their members in any way at present.
Remember Scargill? Where’s our mining industry now?
fodenway:
Here is the news - Mick Lynch, of the RMT union, speaking outside the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool today has said that many train operating companies are in crisis and “close to collapse”.
I wonder why?
Here are a few observations for you Mick :-
Trains need to carry a lot of goods and paying passengers, lots of them, in order to be financially viable.
He knows, which is why he, and many others including myself, think trains should be in public hands. This is entirely down to the sell everything to the highest bidder ethos that’s cursed this county and left us now with very few assets and much of what should be in public hands owned by foreign companies
So once they are all in public ownership, can they all be closed down to save taxpayers money please?
fodenway:
Yes, everybody would like a fatter wage packet, but with the average rail workers income reportedly around £44K P.A. MOST of them are not exactly impoverished.
A bit misleading.
Rail workers, including drivers may have a median wage around £44k. Most drivers are not in the RMT, and are not on strike.
Rail workers excluding drivers have pay medians nearer £33k.
Some RMT rail workers get under £25k per annum.
Cleaning and other non specialist jobs are often contracted out, and may have poorer pay.
fodenway:
Here is the news - Mick Lynch, of the RMT union, speaking outside the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool today has said that many train operating companies are in crisis and “close to collapse”.
I wonder why?
Here are a few observations for you Mick :-
Trains need to carry a lot of goods and paying passengers, lots of them, in order to be financially viable.
He knows, which is why he, and many others including myself, think trains should be in public hands. This is entirely down to the sell everything to the highest bidder ethos that’s cursed this county and left us now with very few assets and much of what should be in public hands owned by foreign companies
So once they are all in public ownership, can they all be closed down to save taxpayers money please?
We could save even more tax money:
Close all hospitals, sack the army, and stop educating kids. Save a fortune.
‘a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.‘
Oscar Wilde.
fodenway:
My point being that by taking repeated strike action the unions aren’t helping their industry, the public or their members in any way at present.
Remember Scargill? Where’s our mining industry now?
I’d argue that they are, they’re doing great work because Labour have just announced a policy to return railways to public hands, which probably wouldn’t have happened without the strikes.
Re the miners it’s not really comparable, coal was a dying industry whatever the strikers did, trains are going nowhere…….literally sometimes
fodenway:
Here is the news - Mick Lynch, of the RMT union, speaking outside the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool today has said that many train operating companies are in crisis and “close to collapse”.
I wonder why?
Here are a few observations for you Mick :-
Trains need to carry a lot of goods and paying passengers, lots of them, in order to be financially viable.
He knows, which is why he, and many others including myself, think trains should be in public hands. This is entirely down to the sell everything to the highest bidder ethos that’s cursed this county and left us now with very few assets and much of what should be in public hands owned by foreign companies
So once they are all in public ownership, can they all be closed down to save taxpayers money please?
fodenway:
Here is the news - Mick Lynch, of the RMT union, speaking outside the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool today has said that many train operating companies are in crisis and “close to collapse”.
I wonder why?
Here are a few observations for you Mick :-
Trains need to carry a lot of goods and paying passengers, lots of them, in order to be financially viable.
He knows, which is why he, and many others including myself, think trains should be in public hands. This is entirely down to the sell everything to the highest bidder ethos that’s cursed this county and left us now with very few assets and much of what should be in public hands owned by foreign companies
So once they are all in public ownership, can they all be closed down to save taxpayers money please?
You want to shut down our entire railway network?
If it is the case that there are no passengers wanting to use them? If they cannot make a profit (or at least operate with a reasonable subsidy to acknowledge the public benefit of a transport system).
stu675:
If it is the case that there are no passengers wanting to use them? If they cannot make a profit (or at least operate with a reasonable subsidy to acknowledge the public benefit of a transport system).
I do believe at least three people still use the trains. I hear someone travelled the full length of the West Coast Mainline last week
stu675:
If it is the case that there are no passengers wanting to use them? If they cannot make a profit (or at least operate with a reasonable subsidy to acknowledge the public benefit of a transport system).
I do believe at least three people still use the trains. I hear someone travelled the full length of the West Coast Mainline last week
There’s a new, totally privately funded, Trainline that has started up on the east coast line with tickets from £15 - £60 single. I wish them well. lumo.co.uk/
stu675:
There’s a new, totally privately funded, Trainline that has started up on the east coast line with tickets from £15 - £60 single. I wish them well.
Lumo are owned by First Group, which has received millions in gov subsidy for both bus and rail operations.
Running on totally private funded track? No.
They have invested in new rolling stock, but in the same way that road transport relies on the gov providing a road network, they rely on tax-payers providing track networks.
stu675:
If it is the case that there are no passengers wanting to use them? If they cannot make a profit (or at least operate with a reasonable subsidy to acknowledge the public benefit of a transport system).
I do believe at least three people still use the trains. I hear someone travelled the full length of the West Coast Mainline last week
There’s a new, totally privately funded, Trainline that has started up on the east coast line with tickets from £15 - £60 single. I wish them well. lumo.co.uk/
Shame according to you not a single person will be using it. Ah well
