Sorry, Southern rail commuters, your boss can still ask you to keep coming into the office December 19, 2016 Commuters who rely on Southern rail to get to and from the office will understand the pain of trying to keep calm and carry on during strike action. The rail services are being affected by a conductors' strike, orchestrated by the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, today, tomorrow and from 31 December to 2 January. RMT [...]
We’ve got cereal strikes going on: Now Weetabix workers vote for walkouts December 19, 2016 Another day, another proposed batch of industrial action. This time, it's Weetabix workers apparently. Usdaw union has said workers at the cereal company are planning to go on strike in the new year after voting for action in a row over the firm's proposal to change shift patterns. Ed Leach, Usdaw's area organiser, said: “Despite long [...]
Christmas strikes 2016: From Southern rail to British Airways, why’s everyone striking? December 19, 2016 A raft of Christmas strikes is set to unfold this week, with travel particularly affected. Around 3,000 staff at various Crown post offices are set to walk out today, Tuesday and Saturday, while members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union unleash their latest industrial action on Southern rail today and tomorrow, with an ongoing [...]
Union leaders are their own worst enemy December 19, 2016 As the country prepares to power down for Christmas, a number of trades unions are flexing their muscles and powering up their strike activity. As PWC’s Tom Kerr Williams notes, for unionised labour “a good time to react is at Christmas when most employers will be under pressure to keep customers happy”. One can't deny the [...]
Surge in days lost to strike action in 2016 December 19, 2016 Talks aimed at averting strikes by British Airways cabin crew over Christmas will be held at conciliation service Acas today as figures obtained by City A.M. show that the number of days lost to industrial action in the first ten months of 2016 has already dwarfed last year’s total. According to the Office of National [...]
London to be cloaked in fog tomorrow says Met Office and a London White Christmas doesn’t look likely December 18, 2016 Dense fog will descend on London tomorrow, hampering efforts to either get into the capital for work or get away from it for the Christmas holidays. Today, fog stubbornly held its ground leading to the capital's airports warning of flight delays and cancellations – it was the second day those looking to make an early [...]
Will it ever end? Southern rail services are axed for the third day this week as commuters vent fury at government December 16, 2016 All Southern rail services have been cancelled for the third day this week, after protests were held last night by fed-up commuters over the crisis. Members of the Aslef train drivers' union had met with the train company yesterday for a second day of talks at conciliation service Acas, but they ended without resolution. So today's [...]
Editor’s notes: Forget about Murdoch, media dominance is now an online battle December 16, 2016 For a while this week it felt as if we’d slipped back five years, as Ed Miliband and Vince Cable dusted down their criticisms of Rupert Murdoch. 21st Century Fox’s bid for Sky saw the former Labour leader take to Twitter like a student protester. “Do we want Rupert Murdoch controlling even more of [the] [...]
Don’t believe the unions’ bogus claims against Southern Rail December 16, 2016 Passengers on Southern Rail are this week enduring disruption to their services of a kind not seen anywhere on the railway for a generation. From broadcasters to bishops, everyone has been having their say on the industrial dispute about whether drivers rather than guards should be responsible for closing doors on trains that has been [...]
Stansted Express disruption: Trains cancelled and delayed due to incident between Seven Sisters/Tottenham Hale and Broxbourne December 15, 2016 Trains running between Seven Sisters/Tottenham Hale and Broxbourne are subject to severe disruption this afternoon due to an incident on the track. Stansted Express services are experiencing delays and may be cancelled, with disruption expected to continue until 8pm. #EmergencyServices – Services running through these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes [...]