Reader views (15)

 Add your view

Dan from Essex. Your comments are quite typical of somebody who does not live in the real world. It takes around 2 years to make it as a train driver, so unless you want to go all that time without a train then sacking the drivers and taking on staff who would be grateful for the jobs is not a good idea really. I also appreciate that many people have had pay cuts and freezes this year but did your companies make the same amount of profits as National Express? I understand that their results are being published this thursday, (30th July), so look out for those. As well as that, this dispute is not just about pay. There are other issues which are more important which need resolving too. Sadly, if workers would have stood up for their rights earlier then none of us would have been in the mess we're in today.

- Peter, Norfolk, 28/07/2009 15:55
Report abuse

Bob Crow really should wake up and smell the roses. If I was Bob Crown on his £70,000 salary, I feel the right thing to do would be helping the general public who pay thousands a year on train services, not working with the union to cause furthermore disruption. He's the Michael O'Leary of the train network! Greedy, selfish and has complete disregard to humanity.....

- Matt, Rayleigh, 28/07/2009 08:41
Report abuse

Nearly 3 million people out of work, staff taking pay cuts, others having a pay freeze and Bob Crow thinks it is fine to strike to get rail workers a pay rise. This is pathetic, when will they realise it is the workers who they are hurting not the companies. In this economic climate they should be thankful they have jobs not demanding increase in salary. I get that their working conditions are not great, but nor are some other industries and you don’t see them striking. I think those who strike should be ashamed of themselves!

- Dan, Essex, 24/07/2009 15:16
Report abuse

The people this hurts most are the commuters who have no choice but to use the trains to get to work. My company has frozen pay this year; I had no rise at all at the pay review and my working hours have been extended. NXEA should sack the lot of you and get in some of those who have been made redundant or are long-term unemployed and would appreciate the jobs.

I will still have to get to work. Any alternative route is going to double to triple my journey time on these days, and cost me a lot of money in petrol, parking and train fares on alternative train networks. The rail staff have been offered a pay rise; I didn't get one and they'll cost me £200-300 because of this which I can't afford. Disgusting.

- Sarah, Colchester, Essex, 23/07/2009 14:28
Report abuse

Its about time railway workers got into the real world. Most of us are grateful to have our jobs during these uncertain times. Rail workers spare a thought for the general public, most commuters are not even getting a pay rise this year but no doubt our fares will still rise to pay for your pay increase!

- John, HARLOW, 23/07/2009 14:03
Report abuse

To Steve Davidson of Colcester,

The tories would not be able to commit to that promise, look at Boris, with his no strike pledge for the underground!
Trying to stop a strikes would actually cause more harm than good, even labour admitted that!


Lou in Essex.
I agree with you some railway staff can be extremely rude, as someone that works for a train company myself, a few colleagues of mine spring to mind!
What I am trying to get at however is we seem to be enternally stereotyped by a large number of commuters.

"we are lazy" "We don't care about our customers"

The franchise system that in my view is operated by morons, who do not have a clue about what is happening on their trains, as long as they can have the ever increasing fares off the customers then as far as the directors are concerned, you are left to fend for yourselves as far as anti social behaviour is concerned!

I have heard endless stories of fellow railway workers getting sacked for confronting yobs on trains, we are told not to chellenge but to walk away! It isn't the directors that get the pressure from passengers over these outrageous rules it is the frontline staff!
Whilst I agree that striking for a pay rise can be deemed as somewhat unrealistic in the current climate, in an industry like trainsport, which is always fetching huge profits, the staff that work in the dispicaple conditions that the employer provides are entitled to it!

- Anon, London, 18/07/2009 02:03
Report abuse

Well, maybe stopping the whole of East Anglia from moving anywhere towards London for 8 days is a way of preventing swine flu spreading even more?
NB. NXpress East Anglia do have some great staff- young Aaron at Wivenhoe, for example- unfailingly calm, courteous, accurate, helpful & smiling. And a lot of the Colchester staff also deserve commending.

- Train-User, Essex, 17/07/2009 10:36
Report abuse

I'm sorry but I really cannot understand why the majority of NXEA staff seem to think they deserve a payrise. Apart from one member of staff at Chelmsford who is a total star the rest of them are rude, inefficent and have no idea what good customer service is. Their latest customer satisfaction survey gave them something like 76%, how can anyone expect a payrise if they aren't achieving anywhere near 100%? I work in a target based environment and its pretty simple if you don't hit your target you don't get a payrise or bonus and in fact if you only got 76% you would be out of a job.

- Lou, Essex, 17/07/2009 09:17
Report abuse

As an employee of National Rail and a member of the union, you may be surprised to hear I actually have sympathy for those that are directly affected by strike action and can see all all your points with regard to fighting for jobs.
However, please take the in to consideration and then have some have a second thought as to why transport staff resort to strike action.

Inaduequate staff - Frontline transport workers have been working with less staff. The next time you are delayed at the ticket barrier because the staff are tied up with customer questions/problems, take in to consideration the fact that staff are trying to deal with as many people as they can and had it not been for the franchises trying to protect their profits, you would be getting a swift service.

Anti Social behaviour - Companies have been sacking staff for confronting Anti Social Behaviour on trains and stations, so the next time you wonder why staff aren't doing anything about yobs, it's because the bosses expect us to walk away!
Isn't it the right thing to do, after all that is a form of customer care isn't it? Something the directors have been banging on about for ages now!

Abuse on staff - Transport staff are abused by an ingorant minority exery single day, causing stress and low morale.

I am of the belief, that tranport staff are entitled to fight for better pay, when they are working in these conditions, this is why we have a union that supports us!

- Anon, London, 17/07/2009 02:00
Report abuse

Strikes is not good but these people do a fantastic job and national express need to pay them what they deserve. Is that all national express can say "Strike action is not the solution and it will only result in difficult times for our customers." ,very convenient. Ticket prices goes up, they charge us £5 for reserving a seat on inter city trains that alone should pay for their increase.

- Jakir, London, 17/07/2009 00:45
Report abuse

Bob Crow will be eventually be crushed like Scargill. It's overdue, and the country needs rid of him. He's a Marxist trouble-maker, inspired by an ego as big as his stomach. Unfortunately, we have to wait until late next year, when the Tories are settled back into government. Strikes should be made illegal in critical industries, including the railways. Like many millions of others, I haven't had a payrise this year, Mr Crow. But I'm glad I still have a job to go to, paying NXEA £500 a month for the privilege of getting me there.

- Steven Davidson, Colchester, England, 16/07/2009 22:00
Report abuse

About time too. We havn't had a decent rail strike for ages. Who else wants to join in, electricity workers perhaps ?

Its not that we actually need a rail strike, but it would be interesting to see how the current, pro worker(?), government actually triies to deal with this. Beer and sandwich's at No 10, I think not, a good bit of Mandleson spin - more like it, after all strikes are not as bad now as they were under a Tory Government.

So with huge numbers of people out of work - why not have a national strike complaining about the lack of employment, we could refuse to use the trains to go to work that we do not have on days of strikes.

The country needs to show its displeasure at teh significant problems caused and accrued through 10 years of Blair/Brown missgovernment. It will cost the unemployed nothing to do this !

- Jerry, London, 16/07/2009 13:49
Report abuse

Bob Crow defines everything that is bad with Unions. The man is a snake.

- Jk, London, 16/07/2009 13:25
Report abuse

Bob Crow again .... I suggest his bank refuses to serve him and stop his cards, his local shops do likewise. Ban him from petrol stations, pubs and just about anywhere else. He's a menace !

- Paul, London, 16/07/2009 12:15
Report abuse

Labour haemorrhaging voters and the unions call for strikes. Welcome to 1979. Pity Cameron doesn’t have the gravitas of Mrs Thatcher to capitalise.

- Bj, London, 16/07/2009 11:32
Report abuse

Add your comment