Will anyone notice?

[Recliner]

Workers on Southern trains are to stage a 48-hour strike on 7 and 8
September in the continuing dispute over the role of guards, the RMT union
has announced.

The union is fighting plans by Southern owner Govia Thameslink (GTR) to
turn conductors into "on-board supervisors", with drivers taking over
responsibility for opening and closing carriage doors.

Services have been disrupted for months due to industrial action.

Southern said the action was "unnecessary, unjustified and futile".

Passenger service director, Alex Foulds, said: "Passengers and staff will
once again be appalled by the RMT's decision to hold yet another strike.

"We are moving forward with our plans for the benefit of customers after
nine months of fruitless attempts to reach an agreement."

Changes to the role of guards were imposed by the company from Sunday.

Mr Foulds added: "We have guaranteed all our onboard staff a job until the
end of the franchise, as valued members of our future operation, with no
reduction in salary."

... Continues

More in:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37168008

Now that the guards have become On-Board Supervisors, will trains still
have to be cancelled if they fail to turn up?

[n***@gmail.com]

From my observation I would say there is a huge culture of bad work ethic among railway personnel. I find it fascinating that Southern cannot communicate reliably with their customers when there is an incident.

I also feel somewhat indifferent to their on-board staff who seem to spend most of their time hiding in the back cab.

There appears to be no systematic thinking when it comes to some of the minor delays that affect day-to-day running. For example I was recently on a service which was announced at the station to call additionally at Hampden Park. The same was displayed on the information screens but the on-board staff were completely unaware of this.

All too often there are ten to fifteen minute delays with attaching trains at Haywards Heath and issues dispatching trains on time at East Croydon.

The whole thing needs re-thinking. If trains can't leave stations on time on a regular basis then some careful investigation is required.

As for the comments I have seen on social media from various staff members I am not completely surprised by their lack of professionalism.

It is clearly a deeply ingrained culture.

[R. Mark Clayton]

Post by n***@gmail.com
From my observation I would say there is a huge culture of bad work ethic among railway personnel. I find it fascinating that Southern cannot communicate reliably with their customers when there is an incident.
I also feel somewhat indifferent to their on-board staff who seem to spend most of their time hiding in the back cab.
There appears to be no systematic thinking when it comes to some of the minor delays that affect day-to-day running. For example I was recently on a service which was announced at the station to call additionally at Hampden Park. The same was displayed on the information screens but the on-board staff were completely unaware of this.
All too often there are ten to fifteen minute delays with attaching trains at Haywards Heath and issues dispatching trains on time at East Croydon.
The whole thing needs re-thinking. If trains can't leave stations on time on a regular basis then some careful investigation is required.
As for the comments I have seen on social media from various staff members I am not completely surprised by their lack of professionalism.
It is clearly a deeply ingrained culture.

They work to rule - sounds OK, but do you need sand to counter icing in the summer...

They go on strike - not all out - just for a day or two to maximise the disruption to passengers and minimise the net salary sacrifice.

Worst of all they pull fake sickies - straight off fraud.

Behaviour when working seems none to good either, but I don't have first hand experience of this lot. OTOH it sounds very like the obdurate, obstructive jobsworth attitudes prevalent when it was still British Rail.

[n***@gmail.com]

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