London Underground strikes

Well worth watching Bo-Jo sparring with Bo-Cro on channel 4 news with Jo-Sno as the referee.

Also saw a bit of BBC London news with Boris suggesting Bob comes around for a pina colada and a chat

Oh really?! I'll have to look for that!!!

Hmm there are some times and some occupations I just think it's inappropriate to strike. Surely this could have been done on a weekend so commuters aren't so affected. It would still cause enough disruption though!

Surely people who have real jobs do not strike?! I firmly believe that the tube drivers get too much money and holiday. I have been saying for years can't they just run the tube like the DLR with computers? They are too greedy and demanding. Everyone is having to do more at work for less at the moment, what makes them so special or different.

I am not 100% sure as I haven't been following union stuff much lately as I have had a lot on but this I think this is about the ticket offices and station staff so the strikes are in support of their colleagues (plus I left RMT for a different union last year so don't receive any emails/updates any more). Very happy to be corrected.

I can't say I necessarily understand the full story, but I think it's unnecessary. In the current climate, loads of people are losing jobs due to restructures, pensions are closing due to lack of funds... Not much we can really do about it!

strikes are designed to cause disruption though-that's the point.

I don't know enough about it to make an informed view but I bl0ody love this as a sentence!!

I think people need to be able to strike though, and of course the best time to do that is at the time it will have most impact, but whether they should have in this situation, I'm not sure as I don't know enough about it.

Exactly what DCM said.

I'm not sure what you mean... the firefighters had a strike recently, is that not a real job??

^^^ This. and what about teachers?

If I have understood it correctly the job losses will lead to stations being unmanned the majority of the time?

If this is indeed the case then I think it's f*cking stupid and support the strike action. There needs to be staff at stations, for the times when the ticket machines or barriers malfunction, for help with answering queries or assisting passengers.

Also this.

I'm torn on the whole issue of strikes, tbh. And unions as well. Rather than wade into the debate without a good enough background knowledge, I'll simply share this that showed up on facebook today:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/scottybryan/the-best-of-the-internets-reaction-to-the-tube-strike?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=buzzfeed

Im all for closing ticket offices if it means the savings can be spent elsewhere improving the tube service in other areas reducing overcrowding etc.

I think in the 7ish years I have lived in London I have used a tube ticket office like twice. Both occasions to replace my lost oyster card and I would not have be bothered to travel to a larger station to do that.

I didn't realise teachers and firemen has been on strike lately.

To be honest l find TfL and RMT greedy and whether it is the drivers or the station staff l am bored of it. Like l said on my previous post what makes then special and different that they are not affected by cuts. I am the first to say cuts are not great but they are a fact of life at the moment.

Totally disagree with the strike (and striking in general TBH).

Stations will still be manned to a point, and as James says, I would much rather they cut ticket office staff where they can to spend the money on other things (or better yet, reducing my ever increasing season ticket).

I am lucky enough to be able to work fro home these two days, and next week, and I feel sorry for the poor b*ggers that have had to get in

Well I just feel for the older people, foreign people etc who have trouble operating the ticket machines (actually my mum can't and she's not elderly!), the people that need assistance with their wheelchairs or pushchairs, etc. You know the ones who don't find it as easy to get around and need staff at the stations.

Unmanned trains and stations are disasters waiting to happen. Especially busy ones.

I know on the lines I work we have lost booking offices at smaller rural stations and not a single passenger i ever spoke with as a guard was happy about it- i agree that maybe if they saw a reduction in fares it would be easier to justify but the cuts I have seen have had no effect on ticket prices (they continue to rise every year), possibly some to improving the lines but not enough that i would consider it justified to loose staff.

Enough accidents have happened with staff around I dread to thing of the fall out if a fatality happen at a unmanned station with a train without a guard or driver. Chaos.

I think the London underground is very different to national rail though Kjay.

There is a huge number of stations in very close proximity i.e within walking distance so it is not so much of an issue as you have in the sticks and with all the tube lines interlinked it is much easier to choose a station that meets your needs i.e lifts, disabled access etc the same could apply to manned ticket offices.

Plus additionally you also have the option of travel via London buses, the DLR, Thames Clipper etc.

Aye I can't really argue with that logic funky!

I think it also sucks from a customer service point of view- a lot of people much prefer humans to machines even in this day and age

I have to agree with Funky about the ticket offices. Most of the outlying ones only open random hours and l have never used them much. The last time l used a ticket office then the guy was reading the paper and gave me evils for interrupting him. Wish l had time to read the paper at work!

I'm unsure. I'm lucky that I'm able to drive to work if I have to, so that's what I did today. It was fine in the morning, only took ~25 mins, but this evening took almost 3 hours - I ended up parking on a side street and walking home, H is going to go out and rescue the car later! I'm not sure if it was just traffic due to the strike or if there was an accident or something further ahead.

In general, I support strikes in favour of better working conditions etc. But RMT seem to take it too far and strike at the drop of a hat, and Bob Crow is an odious man, so I struggle to have sympathy every time they strike.