Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Unintentionally hilarious
Arthur Scargill without brains or charm
A London Underground strike? Has Bob Crow not heard about the state of the economy? I wonder from which source Bob Crow, the leader of the RMT union, gets his news. Whichever it is, I have some advice: change it. It seems that Mr Crow's news provider has omitted to cover a story that the rest of us became aware of a while ago: the collapse of the economy.
Posted by devo @ 11:44 PM (1573 views)
22 thoughts on “Unintentionally hilarious”
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devo says:
Hmm, on second thoughts, is this a satirical piece?
drewster says:
Fire the lot of them, and hire monkeys instead. How hard can it be to drive a tube train?
little professor says:
£39,000 starting salary for a tube driver? That’s almost double what I started out on as a junior doctor, after 6 years of medical school. They don’t even have to steer!
gone-to-colombia says:
Back to the seventies when Britain became a Salvador Dali canvass made manifest.
little professor says:
” Heidi Beaty has been a train driver on the London Underground for three months. She worked in retail management before seeing an advert for train drivers in a women’s magazine and applied to work on the Tube.
“There is a lot of responsibility involved in the job: although each day can be mundane on the whole, you have to be prepared for something to go wrong. You never know what will happen.“”
Erm… let me guess. You go round and round in a big circle?
sovietuk says:
£39k plus a gold plated pension, generous holiday allowance and a continuous rolling contract. Some RMT muppet was being interviewed on LBC yesterday and the question was put to him “ok you can have a 1.5% pay increase this year so long as you agree to a 1 year contract like many other working people have to live with in their working lives “. The RMT muppet at first did not understand the concept of a 1 year contract then got really agitated and lost his temper with the interviewer. The interview soon ended unsurprisingly.
devo says:
A p..p…payrise??? When there are bankers’ bonuses to be paid???
Outrageous!
mdmick says:
AND.. the freedom to watch an international football match while the rest of London is stuck on a bus in traffic.
It is astonishing.
Robh says:
house price crash?
techieman says:
now im the last one to support the unions BUT since i really dont know their point of view im not sure i can comment. What i can say is that the timing is appailing and the RMT need to take a long hard look at themselves. I dont mean general timing either. The kids are doing their GCSEs this week – and im sure both them and their teachers / exam invigulators will have been affected. [and as mdmick says the footie has also been affected].
I heard that it started with a pay rise and then the management couldnt /wouldnt agree to that UNLESS it could balance the books by making compulsory redundancies. Thats when Bob pulled em all “ourrrwt”, but as ive said i might be wrong there. The trouble is that the RMT have inconveniced their customers so often , when they probably could have negotiated without industrial action – that there is generally no sympathy with people even if it were warranted.
At least its a nice day in London “Thawwn”
techieman says:
… so my point is yes if you want to take industrial action then thats your right BUT please do it during the summer hols. Most commuters are big boys and should be able to look after them selves. Its an inconvenience yes but such is life… But why do it when the kids are trying to do their exams – are you really THAT selfish?
paul says:
When you go past a shuttered tube station with skeleton staff guarding the entrance, just shout “GREEDY FAT BARSTEWARDS”.
I wish I could find a picture of that poster I always see in underground stations of a uniform saying “Its not deisgned to cover a thick skin”. No, its designed to cover a greedy selfish tw@t instead.
devo says:
11. techieman said.. are you really THAT selfish?
Greed is Good. Hadn’t you heard?
matt_the_hat says:
5% is nothing its not even a pay rise (check CPI). Also asking for job security is not too much to ask, who can get a mortgage with 1 year contracts?
Also people need compensating for boring and dangerous jobs – the comment from the engineer in the times that complains about his rate should go apply for one of these jobs – he doesn’t because he knows that interesting work has value too.
As working class people (I assume most people here have to work to live) we shouldn’t turn on each other, don’t complain about missing a football match when the players earn an average yearly salary in one day then complain about people withholding their labour to give their families a better life. Maybe the football players should take pay-cuts in a recession to entertain people who are feeling down at the moment!!
devo says:
Comment of the Day:
“If they want to strike why not do it at night so that people living in the real world aren’t affected?”
techieman says:
are we not men no we are…..
nomad says:
Where’s the info on retirement age and pensions – all to be funded of course?
bellwether says:
Sorry Techieman I personally think a scourge of our country over the past 20 years has been the increasinging sentamentilisation of children, i also kind of think that all the guilt based vicarious attention lavished on them is actually bad for them. It’s always a balance but we have moved far to far from seen and not heard. I think the media’s unhealthy and ott fixation with paedophilia is part and parcel of this.
I guess the theme is spoiling because I think that about most striking workers in this country, it is an attitude of greivance and self pity that killed our manufacturing base.
techieman says:
b/wether – i agree generally with your sentiments about sentamentilisation of children and also PSPs Playstation etc. But that’s another debate altogether. What i am talking about is NOT the kids that get to school via “mommy’s” 4 x 4s but by tube and who need to be there this week for exams.
Maybe thats a minority – but its probably the minority for less affluent backgrounds – Gosh im becoming a socialist :-).
Long Time Watching says:
@little professor said…
£39,000 starting salary for a tube driver? That’s almost double what I started out on as a junior doctor, after 6 years of medical school.
Thats because the NHS have the freedom to contract in medical staff from the far east for less than a 3rd of 39k. If I where a union sub paying doctor or nurse I would be wishing my union stood up for me as well as the RMT stands up for its tube drivers.
the number cruncher says:
3. little professor said… £39,000 starting salary for a tube driver? That’s almost double what I started out on as a junior doctor, after 6 years of medical school. They don’t even have to steer!
The unions, howerver badly lead, are the only body that has protected us from exploitative capitalisms. The right to organise and strike is the only power the lowest paid people have. Yet we have systematically robbed them of it.
My dad works on London Underground (as a very senior engineer) and he tells me of the horrible situations train drivers have to endure and how hard it is to fill vacancies. They have a huge level of people quit because of stress especially when they have a ‘jumper’.
It sickens me to hear the winging middle class as they try to to deny the rights of workers – especially from professionals such as doctors who professional bodies ensure they have a monopoly in their profession and receive artificially high wages and enjoy far better working conditions.
Junior doctors work so hard so that when they are older they can earn 250k a year and have excellent job security. They fight for those positions, and consider themselves lucky to get them, and by the way what do junior doctors earn now so we can compare like with like?
I hold and excellent bachelors degree and 4 higher degrees and my academic achievement are far superior to a locum and i certainly do not expect that this has granted me some special status above that of the common man.
Villadoc says:
Starting salary for junior doctors this year is £22k for an apparent 45 hour week. It’s the same salary for their first two years.
They are expected to do the same job as always (ie 60+ hour weeks) yet are no longer allowed to claim for overtime due to the European Working Time Directive. That is after £20k+ debts amassed over the lengthy course of their studies.
At least they wont be in a position to buy a house for a few years which can only be a good thing.