Bob crow based noddergedon is coming - BOB CROW DIES

anonymousblackfg

T minus 12 hours to everyone dusting off last years cycle to work purchase or their rusted clunker.

Head in early to avoid the chaos or enjoy the wonderment of three times our number giving the finger to the RMT?

fat_tail

forecast for Wednesday is pretty bad as well. The Millbank Wall of Wind will be testing on the way home !

iPete

I do enjoy spotting the thirty something year old in hi-viz on his bmx during each strike!

sketchley

http://www.lbc.co.uk/boris-johnson-v-bo ... full-85505

LiveGiantly

iPete wrote:

I do enjoy spotting the thirty something year old in hi-viz on his bmx during each strike!

I was laughing before I set foot into this topic as I knew what the title meant....

I certainly agree, tomorrow's roads will be full of cyclists....

Scalps will be had...

You can just imagine what the summer will be like when most people will take up their bicycles again - I can't wait!

jzed

I wish half these nodders would go back under their rocks. Not all of them. Just a good proportion, the proportion who have no common sense. Like do not pedal halfway up the side of a lorry and then start freewheeling, leaving a whole train of cyclists in a danger zone, that would otherwise have been cleared (I know safest thing to do is hold back but it was completely stationary and clearable, and there was a cycle lane which mysteriously then disappears). The RLJers, the muppets who saunter in front of you when stopped at the ASL. The ones who decide to ride zig-zag in the cyle lane so you can't get past (part of CS2 is kerbed so there is really no way to get past).

Ah how I miss the old days.

LiveGiantly

JZed wrote:

I wish half these nodders would go back under their rocks. Not all of them. Just a good proportion, the proportion who have no common sense. Like do not pedal halfway up the side of a lorry and then start freewheeling, leaving a whole train of cyclists in a danger zone, that would otherwise have been cleared (I know safest thing to do is hold back but it was completely stationary and clearable, and there was a cycle lane which mysteriously then disappears). The RLJers, the muppets who saunter in front of you when stopped at the ASL. The ones who decide to ride zig-zag in the cyle lane so you can't get past (part of CS2 is kerbed so there is really no way to get past).

Ah how I miss the old days.

As you put it that way - I have to agree....

I hope I come across sensible and efficient cyclists tomorrow - as well as every other day!

ManiaMuse

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2643743?day=1

Nice day to dust off the bike. Character building I say, who needs the tube anyway?

notsoblue

More people on bikes can only be a good thing, even if they're strikylists.

anonymousblackfg

As is evident from my post on the SCR thread they were already out in force. Tomorrow is going to be quite fun with the weather. At the end of the day I fully agree with Notsoblue, the more the better, at 8:15 just before elephant and castle I had to be one of circa 50 cyclists. Surely the car lobby will soon be whining about there being enough space on the road for them.

frazered

mate finished a half marathon on the weekend, returning to his bike some scrote was nicking it and made it away despite him giving chase

stolen in anticipation of the tube strikes was a guess by plod

Southgate

anonymousblackfg wrote:

T minus 12 hours to everyone dusting off last years cycle to work purchase or their rusted clunker.

Head in early to avoid the chaos or enjoy the wonderment of three times our number giving the finger to the RMT?

Why the union bashing? They are just trying to keep the ticket offices open, provide a service to the travelling public, and protect jobs. The problem with public transport is the lack of investment, high fares and profiteering, not this myth of the workers living it up!

Boris campaigned for keeping the offices open but now he's elected he's reneged on his promises. So if you want to give someone the finger, he's yer man!

tgotb

Southgate wrote:

Why the union bashing? They are just trying to keep the ticket offices open, provide a service to the travelling public, and protect jobs. The problem with public transport is the lack of investment, high fares and profiteering, not this myth of the workers living it up!

If you want to accuse anyone of profiteering and living it up, I think Bob Crow is your man; anyone who earns what he does is in no position to complain about "Fat Cats" and should not be living in a subsidised council house...

Hang on, didn't we have this discussiona while ago?

roger_merriman

Day off tomorrow but out in the very edge of the world (london) have to travel a fair distance before to get to the tube, can't imagine will notice much have to be said.

Koncordski

Southgate wrote:

anonymousblackfg wrote:

T minus 12 hours to everyone dusting off last years cycle to work purchase or their rusted clunker.

Head in early to avoid the chaos or enjoy the wonderment of three times our number giving the finger to the RMT?

Why the union bashing? They are just trying to keep the ticket offices open, provide a service to the travelling public, and protect jobs. The problem with public transport is the lack of investment, high fares and profiteering, not this myth of the workers living it up!

Boris campaigned for keeping the offices open but now he's elected he's reneged on his promises. So if you want to give someone the finger, he's yer man!

I think the bashing is probably down to the fact that it's been called on a ballot of around 30% of members, it's pointless as there are no compulsory redundancies, and everyone can see Bob (free council house) crow for the troublemaker he is. Boris reneged on his ticket office promise but then Labour said they were going to renationalise the railways before the '97 election. Politicians always change their mind. But how is someone on the platform less safe than someone in the ticket office, that's just tosh. :roll:

tgotb

Koncordski wrote:

But how is someone on the platform less safe than someone in the ticket office, that's just tosh. :roll:

Ah, but someone on the platform won't necessarily have a comfy seat, and will be much further from the kettle...

anonymousblackfg

TGOTB wrote:

Koncordski wrote:

But how is someone on the platform less safe than someone in the ticket office, that's just tosh. :roll:

Ah, but someone on the platform won't necessarily have a comfy seat, and will be much further from the kettle...

Also difficult to read a book on the platform as well.

A little bit of my joy in cycle commuting is knowing that neither Bob Crow or Boris is getting my hard earned cash. The point of the 30% turn out is a big issue for me and I think speaks volumes, if there really was an issue we'd hear about it but credit to Bob Crow, he's just doing his job well.

The silver lining is London will struggle on by, commuters will call for more automation and more RMT workers will be phased out, they might realise they shot themselves in the foot as they're being thrown into the furnaces to power the machines now doing their jobs.

cookeeemonster

what I dont get is how they calculate that these strikes will cost london £200 million??

either people get in to work or they work from home - or they make the work they couldn't do another time?? And how much is £200 million in the big picture i.e. if london would normally make 10 billion in that time then 200 milion is pretty small even if true...

Southgate

Koncordski wrote:

I think the bashing is probably down to the fact that it's been called on a ballot of around 30% of members, it's pointless as there are no compulsory redundancies, and everyone can see Bob (free council house) crow for the troublemaker he is. Boris reneged on his ticket office promise...

Actually it was a 40% turnout, which is higher than the turnout for the election of the Mayor who only received just over half the votes cast, compared to the 77% of RMT members who voted to strike.

So if you want to bang on about democratic legitimacy, the Mayor loses hands down.

The strike is about ticket offices and job losses, not Bob Crow's house (which isn't "free" in any case and has got nothing to do with anything, unless you're a Daily Heil reader that is, in which case I'm surprised you've got time to worry about who Bob pays his rent to, what with the terrible threats of cancer, Romanians and single mothers out there).

Boris reneged on his promises. Now he doesn't want to negotiate, just impose. Ergo, the strike is down to him.

Or shouldn't people who get elected by 20% of the total electorate be held to account when they, well, lie?

Koncordski

Southgate wrote:

Koncordski wrote:

I think the bashing is probably down to the fact that it's been called on a ballot of around 30% of members, it's pointless as there are no compulsory redundancies, and everyone can see Bob (free council house) crow for the troublemaker he is. Boris reneged on his ticket office promise...

Actually it was a 40% turnout, which is higher than the turnout for the election of the Mayor who only received just over half the votes cast, compared to the 77% of RMT members who voted to strike.

So if you want to bang on about democratic legitimacy, the Mayor loses hands down.

The strike is about ticket offices and job losses, not Bob Crow's house (which isn't "free" in any case and has got nothing to do with anything, unless you're a Daily Heil reader that is, in which case I'm surprised you've got time to worry about who Bob pays his rent to, what with the terrible threats of cancer, Romanians and single mothers out there).

Boris reneged on his promises. Now he doesn't want to negotiate, just impose. Ergo, the strike is down to him.

Or shouldn't people who get elected by 20% of the total electorate be held to account when they, well, lie?

Split it how you like mate, 77% of the 40% that turned out is still bugger all. The ticket offices are closing because they're being phased out for machines and contactless payments, and more to the point i couldn't give a toss about tube workers losing their jobs becuase the last time i met one that was polite and helpful was over 5 years ago.

tgotb

Southgate wrote:

The strike is about ticket offices and job losses, not Bob Crow's house

It's not about job losses, because there are going to be no compulsory redundancies. Some people will be doing different (more useful) jobs, but guess what: If someone pays me to do a job, they get to decide what that job entails, and if it means I can't sit in an office reading the paper, tough.

Bob Crow's pay and house come into it because he claims to be representing the ordinary worker against the forces of profiteering fat cats, yet his house and pay both expose him as a fat cat profiteering at the expense of ordinary workers.

I get the impression that these strikes are really about Bob Crow justifying his pay packet to the union members who are providing for it.

Gallywomack

and more to the point i couldn't give a toss about tube workers losing their jobs becuase the last time i met one that was polite and helpful was over 5 years ago.

Bit harsh - tube & train staff IME are pretty knowledgeable and generally helpful.

TBH I couldn't really give a monkey's about the whole 'jobs being phased out for machines' meme, it's happening everywhere including in formerly white-collar industries, and the world appears to keep moving. The trick is to be on the right side of the implementer/implementee divide.

Gallywomack

TGOTB wrote:

If someone pays me to do a job, they get to decide what that job entails

Really? Blimey, I thought I was chilled out about work.

Southgate

TGOTB wrote:

It's not about job losses, because there are going to be no compulsory redundancies.

That makes no sense. Jobs are being lost. Period.

How those jobs are going to be cut is a different issue, but when an employer announces that your job is to be scrapped, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that those affected will "volunteer" for redundancy rather than wait to be fired on a less favourable basis a few weeks later.

Bob Crow's house, holiday, salary, haircut, waistline, affinity for Millwall FC (!!! WTF!!!) etc are between him and his landlord / travel agent / members / barber / KFC / God.

It's got nothing to do with ticket office closures. Or why RMT members voted to strike.

In any event, perhaps we can agree that having a hundred thousand more Londoners out on bikes is a good thing, even if only for a couple of days.

anonymousblackfg

I can understand tube workers position, Bob has done an exceptional job such that they could not get the same terms in the jobs market today. Much like the miners there is little alternative for them so they'll fight to the end.

Now mayoral campaigns will win votes on more funding to phase out the workers rather than maintaining their pay and conditions.

DonDaddyD

They are just trying to keep the ticket offices open, provide a service to the travelling public, and protect jobs.

I'm not sure when Boris made the pledge to keep ticket offices open but he did make a valid point in the LBC showdown with Crow, technology has moved on. It is quicker for me to top-up my oyster card using the machine than to queue up and use the ticket office. You can also fit more of them in the same space used to house the 1 staff member in the ticket office. So this does need looking at.

However, about 2 - 3 years ago, my Oyster once stopped working and the guy in the ticket office swapped over my credit there and then - issuing a new oyster at the same time. Had he not been there I would probably still be walking back home. So I'm not going to pretend that ticket offices aren't necessary or valid.

The trouble with the RMT is that the public has lost patience as they have stirked too many times in recent years and so people get defensive and refuse to see their point of view.

I'm not sure how he is going to protect jobs, voluntary redundancies have already been issued and the phasing out of ticket offices has already been implemented, according to Boris. Also I'm not sure how you protect a jobs like this when machines have proven to be more efficient.

(Side note, while an train ticket machine has proven to be more efficient than ticket offices, self pay tills in Supermarkets are pure evil and should be banned).

Southgate

A human being should be on duty at every station to help passengers (especially the elderly, children, and tourists). When machines go wrong or people require assistance, passengers are left stranded or have to break the law and vault barriers. It's happened to me. Staffed stations reassure vulnerable passengers and also help prevent vandalism. You ever stood on an empty platform after dark at an unmanned station? It can be a scary experience. Now think what it's like if you're an 82 year old lady.

Public Transport in London is not fit for purpose, and that's the fault of decades of underfunding, complacency, and a lack of vision about what a modern capital city should be. Cutting staff only makes it worse not better.

Boris and his chums don't give a cr*p about public transport (or cycling for that matter). Bashing the unions is all very Daily Mail, but it doesn't actually result in a better and more affordable service. Does it?

DonDaddyD

I don't disagree with the above, however, why does that person have to be stationed in a ticket office?

tgotb

DonDaddyD wrote:

I don't disagree with the above, however, why does that person have to be stationed in a ticket office?

Exactly. If you want a human to be present to assist vulnerable passengers, surely it's better for them to be on the platform helping people than in a ticket office reading the newspaper...

will3

you still have ticket offices down in londonshire?
How quaint, ours closed in 1967

rjsterry

If you have staff on the station, then they need to be provided with basic welfare facilities, the same as everybody else. By the time you've done that, you are half way to a ticket office anyway.