Blame bosses for trains pain
IF you tried to get a train anywhere yesterday then you may have found like I did, your plans were screwed.
Once again large swathes of the country’s rail staff downed tools. So instead of the train taking the strain they did nothing but cause pain.
And it’s happening over and over again. It’s a sad time when rail staff striking becomes more reliable than the actual trains running on time. You’re fed up of the strikes. The train companies are fed up. The strikers are fed up. The Government is fed up. And I am thoroughly fed up of the strikes too.
But I’m also fed up of the way the strikers are portrayed as bad guys. And how the unions are the root of all evil.
It’s nonsense and it is a story peddled by those who have something to gain from not paying workers fairly or by making them redundant. The news was filled with headlines like, “Passengers face chaos after train drivers, on a median salary of £60,000, went on strike.”
Like somehow a train driver is not deserving of such a salary.
Why not? A main reason why many other jobs aren’t paid as well is because they haven’t had unions backing them.
Or their unions have been crushed or watered down by politicians who have been lobbied by billionaires. Who are MPs to say £65k is too much? They are on a basic wage of £91,000 and wave through huge pay rises for themselves. And most have second or third jobs.
Or should we listen to the fatcat chiefs of the rail companies, many of whose execs pocketed bonuses up to £1million in 2023. I stand with the train staff because their fight is an important one.
They are standing up for themselves in a world where corporate greed is hitting workers at the lowest levels the hardest.
Young people getting on the employment ladder face uncertain job security or worsening employment rights.
And it’s only going to get worse as Artificial Intelligence takes over. AI threatens entire workforces of the future.
Many say the tech will make workers’ lives easier and one day cure diseases.
But the heads of big companies can only see AI as boosting profits for shareholders.
We should back the workers who are fighting for their rights.
Before all that is left is the billionaires and their robot worker army.