# Possible train strike 18 December



## LizFox (Apr 29, 2013)

We just tried to buy a train ticket for 18 December from Seville to Malaga and couldn't because there may be a strike that day. Just to advise those who've already bought their ticket or are intending to buy one at the station to keep their eye on the situation.


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

LizFox said:


> We just tried to buy a train ticket for 18 December from Seville to Malaga and couldn't because there may be a strike that day. Just to advise those who've already bought their ticket or are intending to buy one at the station to keep their eye on the situation.


:bump:


----------



## Roy C (Sep 29, 2012)

Solidarity!!!!!!


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Roy C said:


> Solidarity!!!!!!


Do you know why they are striking?


----------



## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> Do you know why they are striking?


Against selling off the most profitable parts of the business to the private sector.

CGT convoca una jornada de huelga en Renfe y Adif el 18 de diciembre


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Alcalaina said:


> Against selling off the most profitable parts of the business to the private sector.
> 
> CGT convoca una jornada de huelga en Renfe y Adif el 18 de diciembre


Imo railways should be under public control if not public ownership. Ideally owned and managed by unions or by selling shares to users not corporations.
Pipe dream


----------



## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> Imo railways should be under public control if not public ownership. Ideally owned and managed by unions or by selling shares to users not corporations.
> Pipe dream


As a former BR employee, I have to agree with keeping the likes of railways, water, electricity and gas supplies in some form of public ownership. Service before profit!


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

baldilocks said:


> As a former BR employee, I have to agree with keeping the likes of railways, water, electricity and gas supplies in some form of public ownership. Service before profit!


And I'm you'll know that very often the people who do the job are the best people to be in charge and take decisions..
The workplace is still a place where all too often people are treated like children.. I really believe that if people were given a real stake in their workplace, a real interest in better outcomes, then society as a whole would benefit immensely.


----------



## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

A bit off topic but did anyone see the article in today's Guardian about the treatment of its workers by a well-known sports retailer? 80% are on zero-hours contracts,hired through agencies and they are afraid to take time off, even if their children are sick, in case they can't get another job. They have to undergo a compulsory search down to their underwear when they clock off (it takes 15 minutes, for which they are not paid). If they are a minute late they lose 15 minutes pay, and every movement is monitored including toilet breaks. 

Most of the workers are Eastern European. It shines a light on the issue of why employers don't want restrictions on EU labour; British workers, accustomed to at least some degree of union protection, would never put up with it.

Sports Direct shares plunge as sales growth stalls following working practices revelations | Business | The Guardian


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Alcalaina said:


> A bit off topic but did anyone see the article in today's Guardian about the treatment of its workers by a well-known sports retailer? 80% are on zero-hours contracts,hired through agencies and they are afraid to take time off, even if their children are sick, in case they can't get another job. They have to undergo a compulsory search down to their underwear when they clock off (it takes 15 minutes, for which they are not paid). If they are a minute late they lose 15 minutes pay, and every movement is monitored including toilet breaks.
> 
> Most of the workers are Eastern European. It shines a light on the issue of why employers don't want restrictions on EU labour; British workers, accustomed to at least some degree of union protection, would never put up with it.
> 
> Sports Direct shares plunge as sales growth stalls following working practices revelations | Business | The Guardian


Yes, I've been following this.
I've said before: free movement of labour, like the other 'freedoms' of movement of the Single European Act, has zero to do with 'internationalism' and everything to do with the provision of cheap labour whether in the UK or in Eastern Europe itself.


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Of course the Spanish taxpayer can now subsidise the unprofitable parts of the railway...the rural lines, those with fewer passengers perhaps but vital for the social and commercial life of these areas. Until of course they are closed...

One of the few good things about socialist Eastern Europe was that the remotest village had a regular daily bus or train service, at least as I experienced it in Poland and Czechoslovakia. Ancient buses, horrible smelly old railway carriages, true...but cheap, affordable to all and no-one was cut off from family or services.


----------



## Roy C (Sep 29, 2012)

mrypg9 said:


> Do you know why they are striking?


I'm not sure how to take that. 

But yes I do.


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Roy C said:


> I'm not sure how to take that.
> 
> But yes I do.


It's a perfectly reasonable question, isn't it? I like to know why workers strike before I decide whether to support or not.
I don't support strikes as a knee- jerk reaction.
In this case I support 100%.


----------



## Roy C (Sep 29, 2012)

Well I suppose I would support most strikes and in some cases ask questions later.


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Roy C said:


> Well I suppose I would support most strikes and in some cases ask questions later.


I couldn't do that. Striking, as we both know, is a weapon of the last resort...not to be undertaken lightly. So I would have to be quite certain before supporting this knd of action.
My Union rarely takes strike action but when it does it usually gets the desired result.


----------



## Roy C (Sep 29, 2012)

mrypg9 said:


> I couldn't do that. Striking, as we both know, is a weapon of the last resort...not to be undertaken lightly. So I would have to be quite certain before supporting this knd of action.
> My Union rarely takes strike action but when it does it usually gets the desired result.


My union is quite a small union but we are one of the better known unions and when it comes to strike action, when we take it, it's usually very effective.


----------

