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Post by drainrat on Jan 11, 2019 18:51:53 GMT
According to the latest issue of Central Line News (aka the thoughts of Chairman Taggart) WTT70 will be introduced sometime this year and will include 4-car shuttles on the Woodford loop. That was a very useful issue for me. I used it to plug the draft coming through the M door this morning. Worked a treat. Paper airplanes! [ goldenarrow There are four more A-B Units than B-C Units. Meaning that you could take four 8 Car Sets with intermediate cabs and split them to have two 8 Car sets with no intermediate A-B Units and four 4 Car sets. A-B units are formed of an A car (one with a cab) and a B car (without a cab) B-C units are formed of a B car (without a cab) and a C car (also without a cab). I think the difference between B and C cars is that the latter has shunting controls, but I could be wrong. Leave the cab and the shunting panel is at the end of next carriage, next panel is on car diagonally opposed etc. etc. so, shunting panels on all cars except A cars
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Post by drainrat on Dec 22, 2018 20:13:30 GMT
Yes, indeed, I did want to say this, but sound like a stuck record (to myself). And stereotyping is a huge part of the decision making from all sides.
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Post by drainrat on Dec 22, 2018 20:01:02 GMT
....in my knowledge of this, stereotyping is quite a part of it regarding the attendance procedures, and if I'm to try to give comment from my view, there will be a lot about stereotyping, also, how it is perceived by a wider audience and that audiences collective character (stereotype?) are taken in to consideration by both sides of the table, the sensation created by the media, from TfL is all because they know how things are taken by the larger community.
How many on here believed that tube drivers earn more than £100k per yr?.....hopefully people here are clued up enough to realise it was false reporting designed to elicit a response with an objective, but the vast majority believed it all, LBC even run a whole show on it which was covered by 2 DJs, who chose to ignore a lot of 'in the know' callers in favour of callers who wanted to attack us, they were annoyed by a lie, one perpetuated by Ferrari et al.
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Post by drainrat on Dec 22, 2018 20:00:00 GMT
But I would say stereotyping is a huge part of strike actions, they are in this one
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Post by drainrat on Dec 22, 2018 19:51:47 GMT
National, cultural, possibly, racial, definitely not.
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Post by drainrat on Dec 21, 2018 18:49:16 GMT
Yes, no opposition....all you have to do is provide a stage, an act, a villain in the background and the British public will shout in unison "HE'S BEHIND YOU!" 😂
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Post by drainrat on Dec 21, 2018 12:50:10 GMT
For all the grief we give BBC and other news outlets for sensationalizing news stories regarding the railways, both TfL and the unions appear just as guilty of it. Keeping up with the Jones' 😂 I wonder if we will find out what this sensitive information was. I have said it before and I still believe it, if these negotiations were held in public then this sort of rubbish would not happen. Both sides would have to play fair or look like idiots to the whole world. I don't think people fully understand how these negotiations take place. It isn't 'all parties getting round the table', that moment is long passed by the time ACAS is used, ACAS is basically 'smoke signals and beacons' in comparison to getting round the table......'this sort of rubbish' is usually arrived at after years of negotiations at local, then higher levels, so I don't really understand how holding the negotiations in public would prevent it from happening, besides, at every stage of negotiation from level 1 meetings to Functional level meetings, minutes are provided for all to see, they're not hidden 😉 You would not need to name names, alleged transgressions should be discussed in public, this would show who is being reasonable, and who is spoiling for a fight. it is not needed to make public the name of the person concerned, however, in this case either the company has been playing games to try and discredit the unions or the unions have ignored something which they probably knew and have lied about it. Had this been discussed in the open then large numbers of people would not have been inconvenienced by having to make alternative arrangements, which are not now needed, and, although not in this case a strike may have been averted. It does get discussed in the open, they are called branch meetings and all union members are invited. Bottom line is this, I know exactly what has happened, but it's nigh on impossible to enter in to conversation about it with media brainwashed public whose first retort is to accuse me of the rubbish they read in the media, which is part of a narrative, all theatre that the British love so dearly 🙄
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Post by drainrat on Nov 15, 2018 14:28:15 GMT
Indeed, it does
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Post by drainrat on Nov 12, 2018 15:43:16 GMT
As Low as Reasonably practical
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Post by drainrat on Nov 12, 2018 14:43:36 GMT
Indeed, however, open to abuse, as we've found over the years 🙄 I remember the first one being 'justified' in mid 2000s, sitting on the oversight committee that reviewed the QRA, which was carried out north end of the Picc. It was/is flawed, which is me being polite, very difficult to take someone involved in the processes away from them and be unbiased, as there are career consequences involved too, as a good friend of mine found out when he conducted a QRA on the district that wasn't the outcome the managing director at the time wanted.
I really could give plenty of examples, bottom line is this, if a decision is made after a QRA is carried out and I am still not convinced of it being safe for my passengers or me, then DRM, NIRM, SOO, COO etc. can come along and try bully me, but won't be happening, simple as that 😉
Add: It was the 'ALARP' principle that brought us Chancery Lane derailment, as opposed to a fleet being fully investigated after 2 incidents in depots had flagged an issue. I remember the Chief Rolling Stock Engineer saying how he felt he was being made to 'fall on his sword' for saying the fleet was running due to ALARP principle
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Post by drainrat on Nov 11, 2018 17:00:05 GMT
NIRMs aren't permitted to issue waivers. The only person who can authorise a real-time deviation to the Rule Book is the Senior Operating Officer. (Concessions can be sought in advance for specific planned circumstances.) Indeed, its the SOO not the NIRM although with the way LUL like to shuffle things around it will be another abbreviation in a few years' time. Use of the good old QRA
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Post by drainrat on Nov 10, 2018 18:49:27 GMT
Northern was the hottest by far then the Bakerloo never went down the Central during the night Interesting. Subjectively as a passenger I'd put the Northern in third place after the Bakerloo and then Central. Having driven on all 3, I'd go with order of Bakerloo, Northern, central
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Post by drainrat on Nov 8, 2018 7:05:33 GMT
On the rare occasions when I've brought 1992s into service early in the morning the interior temperature is the pretty much same as the outside temperature so leaving the doors open while they're stabled wouldn't make much difference. Not an earlies man then Shrugged? Don't think I've ever seen him in before 13.00. I've handed plenty of trains to him though 😀
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Post by drainrat on Nov 7, 2018 10:11:48 GMT
Another bit of rubbish is the claim that the unions insist that only existing TfL/LUL staff can apply for train operators jobs, ASLEF actually would prefer new recruits from outside TfL as existing employees are most likely RMT members already There is an argument that "coming up through the ranks" gives you the experience of how the railway works, which makes you a better TOp. Lack of experience, and skimped training, were thought to be factors in the Ladbroke Grove disaster, the driver had no railway experience before being recruited earlier the same year. ( Conversely one can argue that the job suits such a different type of personality that it's best to recruit specifically for the role). Very pertinent point. I call it the 'train operator paradox'. Basically, the behaviours and mindsets picked up in order to do the job isn't the same as the ones looked for when they run their recruitment processes. Once you become a train operator - you start to become 'infected' by doing the job - you take on traits the company doesn't want when looking for new T/ops. Trouble is, the traits they look for are so wide of what's needed, seeing a fair few not hacking it I'm afraid. I'd say its Very similar to soldiers, who people want to go off to fight wars, yet don't want to deal with the aftermath of what the soldiers have to go through 😔
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Post by drainrat on Oct 16, 2018 10:49:54 GMT
Not to mention there is a marked difference between ATO and NOPO (No person operation), which is often confused by the public as the media uses it as a way to undermine any driver actions, same as the case here, which is, "If you take action, they'll just get rid of you!".......well, no, no they won't, unfortunately more and more drivers actually believe what the press tells them, rather than listening to people 'who know' in the industry. The underground is over 150 yrs old, it's struggling to stay on top of bare maintenance as it is, deep tube isn't capable of NOPO, I'd say neither is Sub Surface either, it's not just a case of 'change the trains with no drivers cab' which is what the press usually rolls out cue any mention of action, it's the infrastructure needed to support it, which just can't be funded at the moment, and less likely to be post-brexit, and the political will has never really been there, it's an American mindset to make people redundant en masse and not really care about it too much "Bidness is bidness!" but something that hasn't really sat well with Brits, though our society now has fast become very much americanised, 'Snake oil' salesmen et al. Don't worry. Journalists and newspaper editors will be replaced by AI soon. I'm sure they have already, fast approaching the technological singularity and we believe we'll be a part of it post 😳
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Post by drainrat on Oct 16, 2018 10:48:00 GMT
Not to mention there is a marked difference between ATO and NOPO (No person operation), which is often confused by the public as the media uses it as a way to undermine any driver actions, same as the case here, which is, "If you take action, they'll just get rid of you!".......well, no, no they won't, unfortunately more and more drivers actually believe what the press tells them, rather than listening to people 'who know' in the industry. The underground is over 150 yrs old, it's struggling to stay on top of bare maintenance as it is, deep tube isn't capable of NOPO, I'd say neither is Sub Surface either, it's not just a case of 'change the trains with no drivers cab' which is what the press usually rolls out cue any mention of action, it's the infrastructure needed to support it, which just can't be funded at the moment, and less likely to be post-brexit, and the political will has never really been there, it's an American mindset to make people redundant en masse and not really care about it too much "Bidness is bidness!" but something that hasn't really sat well with Brits, though our society now has fast become very much americanised, 'Snake oil' salesmen et al. Have a look at the new Glasgow Subway trains. They've been designed to have their cabs removed in the future. And.....
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Post by drainrat on Oct 7, 2018 19:41:39 GMT
Yes, RD= rest day
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Post by drainrat on Oct 4, 2018 10:42:05 GMT
Really, so the unions call the strike and no one has any say in it, is that true? Apathy. 122 T/Op's didn't even both to vote and 68% of total numbers voted for action. Of course anyone can have a say in it but most don't bother but will generally follow the strike instruction. But that's not the unions calling the strike though. The way it works is, the members have problems.....they tell their local reps......the reps raise it at level/tier 1 staff meetings......if unresolved, raised to Functional.......if persists, it's discussed at the branch meetings, where a vote is held to ballot, or not as the case may be........ballot is held and result is the democratic process of not just one, but two votes. The members ALWAYS call the strike, the union isn't a separate entity from the members, which is always what is implied 🙄 There is a framework agreement we work under as T/ops, it's an umbrella agreement to make sure over 3200 drivers across the combine fit into the changing working practices post Company plan in the early 90s, (some of us still remember it 🙄). We used to work RDs and agreed overtime, but the company plan wanted more rigidity and so negotiations took place and the Professional Train Operators Agreement (PTOA) took shape. Now, the framework allowed for the local negotiations of agreements that were quirky to each local depot, it gave us all the level 1 committees to discuss local issues so they can be resolved locally before they became a bigger problem, Now, this is where both our lines current issues lay, all your local hard fought agreements that drivers, which I must add, are good for the depots collective health, are now being ripped up. The management have decided they don't want to abide by the agreements, not interested to discuss them, and will change practice as it suits, not because of necessity but because they are managers......you get my gist. Trouble is, we have a different mindset among drivers now, who are hellbent on going backwards. We are where we are I'm afraid 😔 Personally, I believe things will progressively get worse, we have a travelling public who are starting to see a deterioration of sorts in service, and being told that it's due to 'staff absence' which they translate as us just being lazy, whilst we know that it's because they've run down pools so much, yet sadly too many drivers buy the propaganda and blame their colleagues being sick, lame and lazy, when the truth is its nothing to do with that, attendance levels havent changed over past 20 years, but if you create poor coverage then logic says cancellations will follow, yet TfL in its transformation from public service to corporate wolf don't really care what it does, so long as it gets BIGGER! Unfortunately, one of the Trade Unions did a Faustian deal back in 2009 - unwittingly, they were put between a rock and a hard place, in their eyes - management played their 'checkmate' move and gave them an avenue out, and they signed the deal, which was twofold, it was an agreement covering rosters at every location, secondly, there was evidence that RMT had the majority membership of train drivers at the time, which wasn't reflected on the Trains Functional Council (TFC). We are under the onslaught of repercussions from those deals done to this day, and will be long in to the future, it's one of the reasons you and I are currently working on lines under local striking actions. And I forgot to add the other condition was accepting first Olympic offer with no consultation with the branches, it was accepted before the secretaries knew there was even an offer. Long winded, but hope it explains predicament somewhat. On another point, regarding RD/overtime working, if you lost days pay through industrial action, you wouldn't just be able to recuperate it by working a RD, you know that's? You make a choice on whether you want to do RD/overtime at start of proposal and then you go on a link, that you stay on, not a case of 'oh, I think I fancy working RD/overtime next week!'. The links work like the train movements work, you don't just go from working at Arnos Grove one week and decide you want to turn up for work at Queens Park the next. As for apathy, I agree, and anti TU laws will punish, but on central line, ballots have been near 100% turnouts. Careful what you wish for, you just might get it!
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Post by drainrat on Oct 4, 2018 9:12:07 GMT
So long as it's only the director who turned up the other day, may be a productive talk
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Post by drainrat on Oct 3, 2018 20:15:26 GMT
Lets not forget there's a fair few duels on the line What a wonderful mental image! T/op 1: <slaps T/op 2 with a glove> T/op 2: I will not have you insult my honour! Pistols at 20 paces. Dawn on Tuesday, westbound platform, Ruislip Gardens. Haha, yes, the story of our lives, duel/dual could easily be either/or where our unions involved 🙄
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Post by drainrat on Oct 3, 2018 18:11:33 GMT
The union calls the strike and the members strike, not many questions asked. That's how it works for the first strike and the other union, in this case ASLEF, normally don't cross picket lines. However, LU T/Ops cannot do voluntary overtime so there is no way of making up your money unlike the other TOC's. So when (if) the next strike is called, some people may think twice about withdrawing their labour and the other union may not be so keen to stay out. It's quite true to say that in previous disputes, there has been an element of intimidation but as this strike was pretty solid, I've not heard of anything untoward taking place. That's not to say of course that some people stayed away just in case they were the victim of unsavoury behaviour. Really, so the unions call the strike and no one has any say in it, is that true?
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Post by drainrat on Oct 3, 2018 18:06:09 GMT
What percentage of Central line drivers belong to ASLEF? Will the RMT drivers still be working? There are 322 ASLEF members on the Central Line, I'm not sure how many drivers there are in total on the Central Line, I think the last time I counted it was around 500 so 60/40ish. If the strike goes ahead I suspect there won't be many RMT drivers crossing the picket line as the grievances affect them too.
When I started work this afternoon the ASLEF Rep (in uniform so not on union business) was deep in conversation with the RMT Rep. No talks today but a rumour that there might be a meeting at ACAS tomorrow evening which will probably be too late. Lets not forget there's a fair few duels on the line, so a % doesn't give an accurate measure of what to expect
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Post by drainrat on Oct 2, 2018 13:27:00 GMT
The enboldened section is very worrying. How are LU management getting away with this at tribunal, unless they can demonstrate 'gross misconduct'? ASLEF went through the company appeals procedure before taking any further action. On average it takes six months from starting the tribunal process to getting a decision, in the meantime the person is out of work and even if they win their case LUL do not have to re-employ them.
Not to forget the tribunal may claim the company acted unjustly, but the company doesn't have to reinstate the employee if they don't want to
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Post by drainrat on Oct 2, 2018 10:22:44 GMT
The enboldened section is very worrying. How are LU management getting away with this at tribunal, unless they can demonstrate 'gross misconduct'? Unfortunately, rather than 'aslefshrugged'.....'aslefblinked' on this one, dragged their heels, left far too late to do anything about it, then tagged it on as a secondary to the current action 😔
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Post by drainrat on Oct 1, 2018 15:47:36 GMT
Are settlements agreed at ACAS not legally binding? If so, surely the RMT could take London Underground to court for not implementing what was agreed? In terms of the reasons as listed above, I can only speak for what I see at my depot. We have no vacancies on the establishment. All of our absences, apart from annual leave are caused by drivers being off sick or on alternative duties. I think this comes from drivers complaining that they have to cover full duties consistently when they are spare. So basically, if everyone came into work, there would be no problem with driver numbers. Are you certain about driver numbers?.....At Leytonstone, after displacements, our depot coverage was -2, so if everyone came to work, taking in to consideration AL, block training etc. We were 2 drivers short, that's nothing to do with the 'sick and light duty' narrative being spun and everything to do with INSUFFICIENT NUMBERS
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Post by drainrat on Oct 1, 2018 15:22:14 GMT
So all these drivers are striking and inconveniencing the public without knowing why? In that case, why are they striking? Is it because of intimidation and bullying by their union colleagues? Where I work intimidation and bullying mean instant dismissal. Was waiting for this one to come along with the old narrative of assumptions 🙄
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Post by drainrat on Sept 29, 2018 19:44:11 GMT
What do the RMT want? Usually in a strike there are demands (for a pay rise, a change of policy or whatever) to be negotiated; as far as I can tell these strikes are because the union don't like the management and I can't see what they want to do about it. Nobody actually seems to know what it is about. The strike ballot was carried out at the start of the summer and dates were announced in July. Talks were held and a list of actions were agreed, which are either closed or going to be closed soon with actions in place. So many Operators have been asking DRMs and TMs why they are supposed to be on strike. It is truly dumbfounding. Wow, you know a bit about it 🤔
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Post by drainrat on Sept 29, 2018 19:41:08 GMT
Yes, was a bit messed about, hope he gets what he wants, he's a good guy! Let's hope he doesn't succumb to the virulent contagion that seems to infect everyone at Wood Lane which makes you say everything twice, everything twice. When did Tube drivers go on strike over pay in the last 20 years? As per usual this strike is over management failing to honour previous agreements, some of which were negotiated after a previous strike. I think there was once when a pay deal was imposed without negotiation, could've been about 2001, I know there was a ballot, but can't for life of me remember if there was a strike. Was the 'Royal Mail' directors, Mason & Mason, they also took out full page ads in both Metro and Evening Standard to tell everyone how much we earned, how many hours we worked, annual leave etc. which anyone who could do simple calculations, could see didn't add up....
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Post by drainrat on Sept 29, 2018 8:14:26 GMT
There is only 1 or 2 of the Central line Info assistants that I can really understand, the latest fella is very well spoken, though I don't remember his tones being that clipped when he was a driver down the drain Secondment?? Yes, was a bit messed about, hope he gets what he wants, he's a good guy!
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Post by drainrat on Sept 28, 2018 13:50:18 GMT
.....so, the public will see the handsome drivers only doing one unit, not the whole train
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