Train guards

[victor]

To get a £300 bonus if they work a five day week.
Thought this govt had a black hole to fill so where is that money coming from?

[Workingman]

Guards etc on Cross Country work 12hr shifts - days and nights. They do an average 42hr week - 4 on 3 off, 3 on 4 off - as opposed to an office worker's 35. The fifth day will be overtime at 1½ pay for a 60hr week. No WFH nor flexitime.

I wouldn't want to be working those shifts full time for any length of time and i guess not many of us would either.

[Suff]

Me neither. However I've worked more it is just that the pay was higher and it was only for shorter bursts like 6 months.

[Workingman]

What bugged me about this was the claims by the Telegraph, Mail and Express that this was some sort of bonus like the free money investment bankers get for doing their job. It is not, it is overtime pay at 1½ for doing an extra 12hr shift.

And let's not forget that the wages for Train Staff - guards, conductors etc.- is from £23,000 (basic) to £36,000 (top grade), Their normal pay is about £11 to £16 per hour. Hardly extravagant, is it?

[Suff]

No that's not extravagant. So I'd love to know where their ticket prices come from because those are certainly extravagant.

[Workingman]

Trains, infrastructure and operating staff are not free so those costs are a lot of the ticket price. The money has to come from somewhere. Then let's not forget the CEO and management salaries and bonuses as well as the dividends for shareholders.

Maybe if we reduced the last two through nationalisation the ticket prices might come down?

[Suff]

Not convinced. I travelled on British Rail quite a lot in the Army on warrant as I guess you did.

Not stellar and also not cheap if you were paying for it yourself.

[Workingman]

We have moved on from the management styles of the 40s. 50s, 60s and later, just as we have with the technologies of cars, planes, trains, electronics and space. Life as we live it has also moved on. Let's not try to compare what nationalisation today might be with times gone by. Things will be very different.

[Suff]

Well I certainly hope so but I suspect the Unions do not want it to be that different.