So it looks like the London tube drivers are striking again!
Another week of misery beckons in November! What’s wrong?? £60,000+ salary, 49 days paid holiday, private healthcare and final salary pension not good enough??😡😡
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DaliaCQ · 26-30, F
That seems a lot of money for driving a train, what are government members paid there? Or doctors and nurses?
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@DaliaCQ MPs including Ministers: not a great deal more.
Doctors and nurses: depends on their grade, but even the lowest-paid are not exactly in penury. They do though, often have to work for far longer hours than they should.
Frankly I think public transport drivers and medical staff deserve their money for the very heavy responsibility they bear; but quotes of salaries do not usually tell us if those are of gross or nett pay. You pay high tax and National Insurance, pro rata and by scale, on high salaries.
I visit the capital only very rarely and have used the Underground probably only half a dozen times; but have used the national railways more often and more recently. I'd certainly not begrudge his or her pay on a foul Winter night when I know the train's driver is trying to maintain the required 100mph to meet the timetable despite being barely able to see the rails gleaming ahead.
Having mentioned work hours, it is important to realise the differences between duty hours, actual operational time and rest periods. You might be contracted to be at work 9 hours a day, say, but needed to be working for only 8 or less.
A bus or HGV driver is limited by law to maximum driving hours (vehicle in motion) and minimum rest periods, within each day's contracted hours - and monitored by the tachograph whose cards are legal documents. I don't know if the railways operate in a somewhat similar way, but I think airline pilots do; but both professions' operational hours are heavily set by the time-tables.
I would hope that that nocturnal train driver has had a proper rest before the journey, and does so afterwards! (The long-distance services, at least of more than a few hours, do have crew changes at some convenient mid-trip stop.)
It is bad that medical personnel are apparently expected to work much more than this.
Doctors and nurses: depends on their grade, but even the lowest-paid are not exactly in penury. They do though, often have to work for far longer hours than they should.
Frankly I think public transport drivers and medical staff deserve their money for the very heavy responsibility they bear; but quotes of salaries do not usually tell us if those are of gross or nett pay. You pay high tax and National Insurance, pro rata and by scale, on high salaries.
I visit the capital only very rarely and have used the Underground probably only half a dozen times; but have used the national railways more often and more recently. I'd certainly not begrudge his or her pay on a foul Winter night when I know the train's driver is trying to maintain the required 100mph to meet the timetable despite being barely able to see the rails gleaming ahead.
Having mentioned work hours, it is important to realise the differences between duty hours, actual operational time and rest periods. You might be contracted to be at work 9 hours a day, say, but needed to be working for only 8 or less.
A bus or HGV driver is limited by law to maximum driving hours (vehicle in motion) and minimum rest periods, within each day's contracted hours - and monitored by the tachograph whose cards are legal documents. I don't know if the railways operate in a somewhat similar way, but I think airline pilots do; but both professions' operational hours are heavily set by the time-tables.
I would hope that that nocturnal train driver has had a proper rest before the journey, and does so afterwards! (The long-distance services, at least of more than a few hours, do have crew changes at some convenient mid-trip stop.)
It is bad that medical personnel are apparently expected to work much more than this.
Philth · 46-50, M
@SW-User ahh so we're back on the old favourite: the race to the bottom, asking why some occupations earn more instead of asking why others earn less.
Presumably, when you're looking for a new job or just a move within the same organisation, you seek out those positions with worse pay than you're currently on?
Presumably, when you're looking for a new job or just a move within the same organisation, you seek out those positions with worse pay than you're currently on?
SW-User
@Philth Ah but the thing is with being a tube driver, you see, is that it's a semi-closed shop. To even be considered for a post you have to be working for TfL, then have a minimum of six-months in a customer facing role. After that, it's pretty much who you know. They hardly ever advertise externally. That's what you get when you strike a shady deal with a union.
It's essentially impossible to become a tube driver, unless you're in the club.
It's essentially impossible to become a tube driver, unless you're in the club.
