Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Angry
In your attempt to defend your own rights you have illustrated the tube workers points perfectly.
They, like you, are also entititled to negotiate their perceived value.
The difference being, of course, they dont whinge about your right to negotiate your negotiated / contracted / legal employment rights on public forums because they somehow feel offended or potentially inconvenienced by certain actions which that might involve.
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My perceived value is one set by the job market and legitimately dependent on the supply of my skills and their value. It's nothing to do with any perception of my own personal value. I don't pick a figure out of thin air, I base it around advertised salaries.
The actual value of train drivers is perhaps a different story given the extremely high supply of people who are potentially capable and willing to do the job.
I don't regard this as reasonable negotiation but blackmail. I have no issues whatsoever with unions preserving the rights their workers have and ensuring that employers stick to agreements, it's a quite different matter demanding pay and benefits well above those that the market would suggest are appropriate under threat of strike action.
It's a remarkably cynical move in contravention of standing agreements to make the demands they did and the level of action is entirely disproportionate.
At the end of the day they are free to go elsewhere if they feel so hard done by, although of course them getting 45k, a relatively generous pension, such a short working week and such a huge amount of time off is a somewhat different matter.
We will evidently agree to disagree on this. I should also mention that I'm free to whinge on this or any other subject as I see fit and of course train drivers don't whinge about me, they know a good deal when they see one and aren't likely to complain when their unions can hold the largest city in Europe and one of only two A++ cities in the world to ransom at a whim.