What are your views on unions & strikes?

In I have travelled on the Paris line 1 metro. It has no driver and I haven’t seen a guard nor any other staff. The doors on the platform only open at the exact place as those of the train and only when those of the train are open.
This is the future and maybe what the unions are fighting against it as less staff means less dues being paid.

maddyone

^Currency has to be backed up by something surely.^

It does. It’s called gold or the gold reserves.

No the £ hasn’t relied/been linked to the gold reserve for many years, long before the current government.

I suggest you Google Gordon Brown/Gold reserve.

It doesn’t help that people like Owen Jones are using the strike to cause division in the Labour Party. Johnson would just use it as an excuse to have an early election saying this is what happens if you have a Labour government. Even though we haven’t got a Labour government but we have a strike. And the electorate will fall for it.

HannahLoisLuke

MaizieD

Milliedog

And I'd just like to emphasise that there is no magic money tree. The increases in their wages have to come from somewhere.

And I'd just like to emphasise that there is a 'magic money tree'. It's called the Bank of England and it issues money on the instructions of parliament.

That's where much of the £billions to cover the covid expenses came from. It didn't come from taxation and it wasn't 'borrowed' from anyone. It was issued by the BoE.

All public sector workers, whose pay has been frozen for a lot of years, could get a decent pay rise but the government is ideologically opposed to funding the public sector.

So where does the B of E magic it from? They can’t just print money, that’s what Germany did before WW11 and their currency became worthless. Currency has to be backed up with something surely.

They can 'print' money (though they don't physically do it, it's just numbers on a computer). Any country with a sovereign currency can issue its money as it pleases.

Currency isn't backed by anything apart from confidence in its value by the people who use it.

Comparisons with the hyperinflation in 1920s Germany aren't valid. They had an enormous bill for WWI reparations and in the process their economy was ruined. It was the economic failure that led to money creation. The situation of the UK is in no way comparable. We don't have external demands on some 40% of GDP and, although our economy is faltering, it's not yet completely ruined. (though it could well be if the government carries on upping interest rates and insist that people remain poor)

Hmm yes, our gold reserves. Wasn’t Gordon Brown responsible for selling off a large amount of those when gold was at a low price?

GrannyGravy13

maddyone

Currency has to be backed up by something surely.

It does. It’s called gold or the gold reserves.

No the £ hasn’t relied/been linked to the gold reserve for many years, long before the current government.

I suggest you Google Gordon Brown/Gold reserve.

The UK came off the gold standard (i.e linking the value of the pound to the value of gold reserves) in the early 1970s. The pound is now backed by nothing but people's confidence in the economy.

Part of our domestic economy problems are due to the fact that in 40+ years economists and politicians haven't really come to terms with the abolition of the gold standard and our freedom to issue currency, and still talk as though the country could become bankrupt, and about taxation funding government expenditure (Thatcher being the worst of the lot because so many people believed her nonsense about the only money being 'taxpayers' money'...). Government always spends before taxing...

So, back to the unions and strikes.

In the New Year’s Honours List, David Cameron’s Australian attack dog Lynton Crosby will receive a knighthood for his services to the Conservative Party. But his assistance has not been solely electoral. He has been a crucial transmission belt between the right-wing parties of both countries, and in both countries his strategy is being ruthlessly implemented. Weaken trade unions so that the 1%’s attack on working people is so much easier. That’s what Lynton Crosby’s knighthood is really for.

Some may like to read the whole article. Although it seems dated it is worth remembering that Lynton Crosby is now joining Johnson's morning/breakfast meeting.

strongerunions.org/2015/12/31/sir-lynton-crosby-two-countries-one-strategy-weaker-unions-mean-working-people-will-be-left-defenceless/

Mollygo

Hmm yes, our gold reserves. Wasn’t Gordon Brown responsible for selling off a large amount of those when gold was at a low price?

Our 'gold reserves' are completely irrelevant as far as the value of our currency is concerned.

Gold is so weird, it's one of the most useless metals in existence; it's too soft to make anything useful and only has decorative value. Yet the world goes mad for it...

mokryna

In I have travelled on the Paris line 1 metro. It has no driver and I haven’t seen a guard nor any other staff. The doors on the platform only open at the exact place as those of the train and only when those of the train are open.
This is the future and maybe what the unions are fighting against it as less staff means less dues being paid.

You know, I think that our increasing reliance on technology is going to come and bite us on the backside one of these days

By then humans will be so de-skilled that they won't know what to do about it.

MaizieD

mokryna

In I have travelled on the Paris line 1 metro. It has no driver and I haven’t seen a guard nor any other staff. The doors on the platform only open at the exact place as those of the train and only when those of the train are open.
This is the future and maybe what the unions are fighting against it as less staff means less dues being paid.

You know, I think that our increasing reliance on technology is going to come and bite us on the backside one of these days

By then humans will be so de-skilled that they won't know what to do about it.

Technology has saved mine and many other's lives. Mostly it's to our benefit, I take it you enjoy your internet access, mobile phone, appliances etc? Without technology we'd still be living like our great grandparents.

Humans are remarkably adaptive to changing circumstances. When our backs are to the wall we tend to meet challenges head on and develop the strategies and skills necessary. If technology bites us on the bum, I've no doubt we'll bite it right back and move on.

I am glad the railway workers are standing up to the “Fire and rehire” (at a lower wage) culture that is everywhere now. It breaks working relationships and destroys trust. This cascades down to customers. Most people don’t know that this was also used in the NHS, the result being that people with little or no experience were employed and put into posts that they knew little or nothing about. This was labelled “restructuring “ and there were several rounds of it. It is a terrible thing to do to people yet it is legal. The end result is a poor service, even a dangerous service. Just look at P&O Ferries. What a shambles.

Why don’t journalists challenge those government nodding dogs brown noses who do the media rounds to parrot the latest meaningless slogans that we were promised high wages, lower prices, a booming economy, control of our borders etc after Brexit. It’s not happening!

vegansrock

Why don’t journalists challenge those government nodding dogs brown noses who do the media rounds to parrot the latest meaningless slogans that we were promised high wages, lower prices, a booming economy, control of our borders etc after Brexit. It’s not happening!

Could be because they didn’t plan a pandemic and a war in the Ukraine to mess everything up

I am very impressed with the politeness and calmness the union leader Mike Lynch has displayed when being confronted by such arrogance and rudeness from the media.

I think he remains so calm because he is right and knows he is right so has the benefit that this confidence brings.

Agreed WW2! The rail workers strike is a strike for all of us. They are the first of many who, I hope, will stand up and be counted regarding inequality in the UK under this government. Private sector wages rise while public sector wages plummet in real terms. The government’s and MSM use of language to corrupt the narrative is interesting. Unions are described as ‘militant’ and their leaders are called ‘Union barons’ - drip feeding the populous. Fortunately, we might be working class ‘plebs’ but we ain’t stupid???

Oops - not sure how the little square emoji got in there, or what it means. Apologies if it’s something ‘inappropriate’!

rosie1959

vegansrock

Why don’t journalists challenge those government nodding dogs brown noses who do the media rounds to parrot the latest meaningless slogans that we were promised high wages, lower prices, a booming economy, control of our borders etc after Brexit. It’s not happening!

Could be because they didn’t plan a pandemic and a war in the Ukraine to mess everything up

That is so true rosie1959. This government for all its faults, have had more to deal with than many previous ones. Can't imagine how Corbyn would have coped.

Other countries have also had to deal with Covid and the war in Ukraine. Other countries have leaders who are less useless than ours.

A Conservative MP tweeted yesterday about how people were having to change their plans because of the strike, saying this is what life could be like under Labour. That could be true, maybe not. But it is definitely what it is like under the present Conservative government.

No more excuses.

Whitewavemark2

I am very impressed with the politeness and calmness the union leader Mike Lynch has displayed when being confronted by such arrogance and rudeness from the media.

I think he remains so calm because he is right and knows he is right so has the benefit that this confidence brings.

I thought that too WWM. Mike Lynch's opponents are deliberately pushing the wedge between parts of the population. He knows exactly what they are doing and is behaving appropriately.

Mick Lynch is on Question Time tomorrow night. ?

I fully support these strikes and want all the public sector workers to properly strike.
The argument of ‘it’s not fair on others’ doesn’t hold up. It’s not ok to keep driving down essential workers salaries so they are struggling. Let’s not forget it was these public sector workers who carried on through Covid and couldn’t be furloughed (I’m talking teachers, health etc).
They risked their lives, they worked hard and still the country doesn’t want to recognise this.
But the state pension is rising with inflation?
Come on. Surely we can all
See the disparity there?
If you want people to do these jobs, you just have to treat them better!
Fair pay, fair working conditions, appreciation of their huge role in the past few years.
People don’t want to strike but what else can they do?

volver

Other countries have also had to deal with Covid and the war in Ukraine. Other countries have leaders who are less useless than ours.

A Conservative MP tweeted yesterday about how people were having to change their plans because of the strike, saying this is what life could be like under Labour. That could be true, maybe not. But it is definitely what it is like under the present Conservative government.

No more excuses.

Exactly!
And other countries don’t seem to have had the huge corruption/investigations/resignations that we have.

I fully support the rail workers strike. It’s my understanding that drivers aren’t on strike. They earn good money and are not in danger of being made redundant .... unless, like P&O the railway employers think of replacing them with unqualified agency staff !

I support the strikers. Public service workers are being treated abysmally.

The cap has been lifted on bankers' bonuses. The gap between rich and poor needs to be addressed.

I'm not sure that the public don't recognise the contribution made by the public sector, LadyWee.

The vast majority of posts on here are in support of the strikes, as are all of my friends (not necessarily a representative sample, to be fair), and what seems to be most of the callers on tv and radio phone ins.