interestrateripoff Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/8803445/Tube-drivers-to-be-paid-50000-a-year.html The Rail Maritime and Transport union today began consulting on a four-year pay deal which LU said offered the prospect of no industrial action over wages until at least 2015.Under the deal, staff will get a 5% pay increase this year followed by RPI inflation plus 0.5% in the subsequent three years. Industry sources said that if RPI inflation stays reasonably high, some Tube staff will receive a pay rise approaching 20% by the end of the settlement period. The pay of Tube drivers, currently around £46,000, will go over £50,000, while some staff could receive a £10,000 pay rise over the four years, it was estimated. They just have to hope workers can keep affording to pay to use the tube..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si1 Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 they seem to be the unwitting beneficiaries of the govt's war with the public sector unions elsewhere, keep the tub e drivers quiet and focus the union-bashing effort on other larger areas like teaching, and local councils Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyMe Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Keep them sweet until the olympics are over. Automation next? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonguest Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 (edited) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/8803445/Tube-drivers-to-be-paid-50000-a-year.html They just have to hope workers can keep affording to pay to use the tube..... Unless I missed something at the time of a previous enquiry I got the impression that it is a very 'closed shop' system - and 'outsiders' cant just apply to become tube drivers. Even allowing for the shift work, etc I'd happily have a go at being a tube driver at their current wages. I believe there are other perks they get too? Spouses get free travel? (a not insignificant cost saving if correct). I have, however, lately noticed (now that tube drivers seem obliged to endlessly and constantly let us Londoners know after just 15 seconds of stationary activity the banal reasons for the train not moving and reassuring us that we will 'be on the move shortly'!) that the voices of the drivers seem to have undergone a transition in recent times from the traditional, sometimes unintelligible, east london cockney/working class drawl (with a sprinkling of disgruntlement at having to talk to the passengers at all) - to a much more 'educated' elocution. A few well spoken foreign accents too. One even translating his message immediately after into French (which, obviously as he probably intended, raised a few smiles in my carriage at the time). Edited October 3, 2011 by anonguest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Not to belittle these tube drivers here but do they actually do much other than go on a green light and stop on a red light? Fifty sodding grand for driving a train Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubble&Squeak Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 (edited) Not to belittle these tube drivers here but do they actually do much other than go on a green light and stop on a red light? Fifty sodding grand for driving a train Erm.. the central line trains are automatic... 50K for opening and closing doors... Edit to add: The 1992 stock is one of the few stock types on the London underground to feature both ATO (Automatic Train Operation) and ATP (Automatic Train Protection) which effectively allow the trains to drive themselves. http://en.wikipedia....ound_1992_Stock and Victoria Line... The trains are part of a £3.4 billion contract awarded by the now defunct Metronet to Bombardier to supply new trains featuring Automatic Train Operation and signalling for the Victoria and sub-surface lines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_2009_Stock Edited October 3, 2011 by Bubble&Squeak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCountOfNowhere Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Sack the lot of them, pay someone minimum wage to do the same job. This country is f**ked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinzano Bianco Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Sack the lot of them, pay someone minimum wage to do the same job. This country is f**ked They need to live in London though... 50K practically is minimum wage (at which you don't need to claim other benefits and still have a reasonable quality of life), living in London. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 They need to live in London though... 50K practically is minimum wage (at which you don't need to claim other benefits and still have a reasonable quality of life), living in London. I'm sure there are some Eastern Europeans out there itching to do these types of jobs for half the money... People who work in McDonolds in London won't be seeing £50k a year so why should train drivers who simply push buttons all day long? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccc Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 How much does a London bus driver get paid ? Surely a far more difficult job that requires skills and experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crashmonitor Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 (edited) Sack the lot of them, pay someone minimum wage to do the same job. This country is f**ked You are joking, got to be worth 50K a year to operate a stop and start button. edit.Suggest you walk to your protest on the 6th from St. Pancras to the Bank, the view is so much better. I always do. Edited October 3, 2011 by crashmonitor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinzano Bianco Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 I'm sure there are some Eastern Europeans out there itching to do these types of jobs for half the money... Would that really be your solution? It's a pretty narrow minded view, and part of the reason for the size of the benefit dependant underclasses, and ever widening gap between the richest and the poorest. That leads, in my opinion, to a lower quality society and makes the country a worse place to live. People who work in McDonolds in London won't be seeing £50k a year so why should train drivers who simply push buttons all day long? I don't really want to discuss the differences between McDonalds employees and tube drivers, and I would probably agree that driving a tube is not the most taxing job in the world. However, to give one reason, I would assume there is a reasonable amount of training cost involved in train driving, so you would need to look at it in terms of a career as you wouldn't want such high turnover of staff as I suspect McDonalds would have. What is your beef about paying someone a reasonable salary to do a job, which by definition, means they need to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world? Personally, I don't begrudge anyone the right to earn a decent livable wage, that means the don't need to top up with state handouts. In London, that's probably around £50k in my opinion, and is the reason I have relocated away from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammo Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Imagine how much they're going to have ot pay the drivers of the new high speed trains we are getting. I assume this hasn't been vetoed by a small group of selfish NIMBYs yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N1AK Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 What is your beef about paying someone a reasonable salary to do a job, which by definition, means they need to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world? Personally, I don't begrudge anyone the right to earn a decent livable wage, that means the don't need to top up with state handouts. In London, that's probably around £50k in my opinion, and is the reason I have relocated away from there. Firstly, I doubt many here will accept the premise that £50k is a 'reasonable' salary. As someone who knows 4 well educated people who work in London I can assure you that £50k is still a 'good' salary. Two work for multinationals managing product programmes for medications (a high paying sector) the roles require PHDs (both to get the job and actually be able to do it) which means they have done 9 years of further education to get that role. I doubt training for a tube driver takes a decade? One is a solictor and the other is a senior editor at a biomedical publication (again requiring 9 years further education). One of them is paid in excess of £50k, the other three are paid ~£40k on average. They are all more than able to live reasonably on that level of income. Secondly, by no plausible definition is it required that you live in London to work there. In fact, of all jobs working on the tube should be one of the easiest to commute for. Of those four earlier examples two are commuters, one travels from Northamptonshire. If there are people who are capable of doing the job and willing to do it for (for example) £30k then it makes no sense to be paying £50k for it. The extra cost is additional burden upon commuters, most of whom will be doing work, at least, as demanding and being noticably less. It also makes the cost/benefit calculation for automation more attractive. Given the risk of strikes, pensions and all the additional costs of having staff etc then replacing drivers for automation at a cost of £65k pa becomes beneficial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robo1968 Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 If there are people who are capable of doing the job and willing to do it for (for example) £30k then it makes no sense to be paying £50k for it. The extra cost is additional burden upon commuters, most of whom will be doing work, at least, as demanding and being noticably less. It also makes the cost/benefit calculation for automation more attractive. Given the risk of strikes, pensions and all the additional costs of having staff etc then replacing drivers for automation at a cost of £65k pa becomes beneficial. This argument is following a long historical list of other workers who once thought they were entitled to cheaper beer in bigger glasses. Automation will follow so £50K for a few years isn't as good as £30K for ever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si1 Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 This argument is following a long historical list of other workers who once thought they were entitled to cheaper beer in bigger glasses. Automation will follow so £50K for a few years isn't as good as £30K for ever it does sound like they will be out of a job soon, 50k to shut up about it basically Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robo1968 Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 it does sound like they will be out of a job soon, 50k to shut up about it basically At the pace of current development I don't give them forever Does the whole organisation make money? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkins Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 What is your beef about paying someone a reasonable salary to do a job, which by definition, means they need to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world? Personally, I don't begrudge anyone the right to earn a decent livable wage, that means the don't need to top up with state handouts. In London, that's probably around £50k in my opinion, and is the reason I have relocated away from there. A Tube driver's wage is a state handout. The Underground is heavily subsidised by the Treasury and the union system has effectively given them a monopoly on the right to drive trains through tunnels under London, even thought they didn't build the tunnels and don't own them. It's just another form of rentierism. Their eagerness to strike repeatedly has taught Londoners an important lesson though: how to get to work without the Tube. When the Tube drivers' equivalent of Thatcher vs the miners comes, people will manage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmarks Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 (edited) £50k does seem rather a lot for what they do especially in relation to other public sector roles but then again I don't know the ins and outs of the job. Certainly a chunk of that £50k is ransom. It does seem farcical that in the age of the iPad a small band of militants can hold the capital city over a barrel. All that said, if property price increases had been held in line with target CPI over the last 15 years they might not need to be quite so militant and the savings from paying more modest wages could have instead been invested in improving the service, possibly automating it. There you go, yet another side effect of HPI: a very much second rate underground service. Edited October 3, 2011 by nmarks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 What is your beef about paying someone a reasonable salary to do a job, which by definition, means they need to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world? Personally, I don't begrudge anyone the right to earn a decent livable wage, that means the don't need to top up with state handouts. In London, that's probably around £50k in my opinion, and is the reason I have relocated away from there. £50k is not a reasonably salary to do a reasonable job, neither is £35k for for throwing a black sack into the back of a truck. People out there invest 5 extra years in education (and now a lot of money) to educate themselves in a career that actually contributes to society and still do not earn this sort of money. £50k is a huge wad of money to earn each year, especially for a role that is basically a service sector job equivalent to flipping a burger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koala_bear Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 The Northern and Jubilee Lines are being resignalled at the moment. The Metropolitan, Circle, District and Hammersmith& City lines will be resignalled post olympics (i.e. after the new trains arrive) So 2 done, another 6 lines will shortly be capable of driverless too with the bakerloo scheduled for an upgrade in the later half of the decade (i.e. after the new trains arrive). TfL know they only have to wait a few years before they can't be held to ransome by the RMT. Erm.. the central line trains are automatic... 50K for opening and closing doors... Edit to add: http://en.wikipedia....ound_1992_Stock and Victoria Line... http://en.wikipedia....ound_2009_Stock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingWithTheInlaws Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 I've already stopped using the Tube. It's nearly a £700 saving on the cost of my rail season ticket. The Boris bike hire costs me £45 per year instead and takes about the same length of time to travel. I also get exercise included free of charge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northwestsmith2 Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 The educated are just as much of a closed shop, the proffesionals require accreditation which cannot be got outside the UK and the Visa will not be granted without it. China has 20,000,000 + qualified students leaving university each year, can't we get a 1% or so to replace our entire proffesional class for less money? There are only about 200,000 Doctors practicing in the UK, if the UK offered to open up and targetted a single years output they could get the 1% who studied medicine and spoke english to a level required. Goodbye £100K pa doctors?, hello £50K from around the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si1 Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 The Northern and Jubilee Lines are being resignalled at the moment. The Metropolitan, Circle, District and Hammersmith& City lines will be resignalled post olympics (i.e. after the new trains arrive) So 2 done, another 6 lines will shortly be capable of driverless too with the bakerloo scheduled for an upgrade in the later half of the decade (i.e. after the new trains arrive). TfL know they only have to wait a few years before they can't be held to ransome by the RMT. actually DRIVERLESS driverless, like the DLR, got a picture of a driverless tube? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efdemin Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 £50k is not a reasonably salary to do a reasonable job, neither is £35k for for throwing a black sack into the back of a truck. People out there invest 5 extra years in education (and now a lot of money) to educate themselves in a career that actually contributes to society and still do not earn this sort of money. £50k is a huge wad of money to earn each year, especially for a role that is basically a service sector job equivalent to flipping a burger. I can't help reading this in the voice of your avatar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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