How not to win over the public during a transport strike
While I sit here, unemployed after being made redundant, ready to make a major salary sacrifice in order to secure a new job[1] - Eddie Dempsey of the RMT union is saying that £72,000 for a train driver is not enough. He states that such a salary is not enough to buy a house in London.
Ah, diddums. Perhaps move outside of London. Maybe move to one of the nearest suburbs like I have where it is cheap enough to buy a property (or at least rent), and commute into London.. oh hang on, but that would mean that if your fellow drivers are striking, how do you get to the depot without having to drive in (and face congested roads as everybody is doing the same thing because public transport is screwed)? Quite a paradox!
Look, I'm not against a union fighting to get a fair wage and conditions for workers. But £72,000 - even for a train driver - is an obscene amount when you look at the kind of salaries being paid for people of my age and experience in the IT sector which comes nowhere close to that kind of salary the RMT are asking for. And as for my sister, who is a doctor, that too doesn't come even close to what I'd imagine she is earning. I'm still smarting over this article from The Telegraph: "I'm a 38-year old train driver earning £90,000 - I want to be a landlord next".
You know what the answer to all this is? Driverless trains.
[1] Though most of the time I'm having to second guess so many potential employers who are not upfront about the salary range on offer. I utterly despise this approach. It feels so cloak and dagger. It does not make me warm to your company and is not a good introduction to your company culture. The Price Is Right this is not - tell me what you think the job is worth and if it meets my conditions I'll apply. Let's be upfront about the salary, please.
I want to eliminate all this second guessing because if a potential employer found out what I was on before I was made redundant, but the company was offering significantly less - but is still acceptable to me - then they could just turn around and say, "Well, he's not going to accept it given what he was originally earning." I also think that the DWP/Job Seekers Allowance people wouldn't be particularly happy either as they just want to see me in a job. Any job.