[Closed] upcoming strikes, tube and fire personel

I was interested to note that the media has widely reported the fact that David Cameron feels the tube strike is unjustified.

[url= http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/25/david-cameron-attacks-tube-strikes-rmt ]David Cameron attacks tube strikes over 'unjustified' action[/url]

This is presumably in stark contrast with all the previous tube strikes which David Cameron felt were justified.

a large number of mainline railway stations are un manned and have no booking office, so the system works there,

have you ever got on the tube at rush hour?
3.5-4 million users every day

Wait until the NHS start striking then your arse will be twitching.

kimbers - Member

have you ever got on the tube at rush hour?
3.5-4 million users every day

So the system is working [i]really[/i] well?

The tube strike was on bbc news with another item from Syria...

Left me with the impression that traveling to work may be a little difficult in comparison to staying alive...

Suck it up. Make other arrangements. Will anyone die as a result of the strike ?

I am glad the tube workers are striking. The electronic payment systems are a rip off constantly overcharging. I use the tube almost every day FYI.

Edit: every single visitor and tourist is going to be pushed into buying a oyster card (£5) and a large portion will end up with a credit balance, ie a gift to the tube company. Also there will be huge queues of people at ticket machines not sure how they work or which ticket to buy (more opportunity for tube company to fine/overcharge them). The ticket machine at my mainline station doesn't offer the cheapest ticket for my journey so conveniently for the train company most customers buy a more expensive one.

Not sure how oyster cards work it but most electronic systems just debit the fare used and then if you do a lot of travel at the end of the day reconcile the lowest charge for you.
Melbourne has introduced them and phased out ticket machines all together for the trams (our equivalent of the underground) there are tourist packs available with the card pre loaded for sale at the airport and major stations. Great idea, no need to bother working out which ticket you need.

As someone with a grandfather who was a national union leader I feel guilty saying this but I see these strikes as worse than pointless. As with teaching strikes (and I am a teacher!) I just don't see any government/employer change of policy coming of it; just royally pissing off and alienating the general public. Does it make you feel powerless as an employee, hell yes - but striking is not the answer in this case.

But surely strikes have always been a bit of brinkmanship.

Either strikers will show employers/gov that without them the industry will not run or gov/employers show strikers that they aren't as important to the running of the industry as they thought.

Either way the loser is the one that breaks first and bows to public pressure, usually the gov unless the NUJ are involved. Always helps to have the papers on your side.

@mike - if you walk through an open barrier or past a touch point in a station with no barriers your are charged a penalty fare / fine. This is set to be the maximum fare possible or maybe more, definitely more than a 1 day travel-card for example. The penalty for forgetting to touch in/out on the docklands light railway is £50 vs a typical fare about about £3-£5. There are no barriers on the dlr, it's very easy to walk past the touch point or forget if you are distracted. If you have a paper ticket you've paid in advance, there is no fining. Also a lot of casual users do "pay as you go" this generally means they put a credit balance on the card and pay a £5 deposit, in all likelihood they never spend all the money or ever return their card - so an interest free loan and/or a gift to the company.

exactly the same here and magically people got the hang of it.

but striking is not the answer in this case.

and yet people are discussing the strike and the reasons for it. Not sure the aim is to achieve a climb down straight away but to bolster positions for the future.

@mike I would say 20% of the people I know get penalty charged once a month vs never being overcharged with a paper ticket. There are many stations without barriers or where barriers are left open. This problem doesnt exist on the busses where you touch in when you get on and thats it. Plus the benefit to the tube company of having PAYG cash upfront. The companies make £50 million pa in oyster card fines most of these are simply overcharging due to a customer error. People genuinely dodging fares are still paying zero.

Edit: i assume by "here" you mean outside London somewhere, I would wager if you came to London amd used the system regularly you'd get penalty charged once a month assuming dixdn't have a montly season. Its marketing spin to say the oyster charges you the lowest fare

It adds greatly to the gaiety of the nation though, when the airwaves are taken over for the day by whinging self-important Londoners. The way most of them are whining on and on about their inability to travel, you'd think the ghost of Bob Crow had visited them in the night and personally amputated their legs.

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