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 [...]
Southern rail chaos continues: Talks to solve dispute between rail firm and union end with no deal December 15, 2016 Talks aimed at resolving Southern rail strikes have ended without agreement. A 24-hour strike, following a 48-hour one held by Aslef union earlier in the week, will go ahead tomorrow. Nick Brown, chief operating officer of GTR, Southern's parent, said: "We're deeply disappointed, as our passengers will be, that Aslef has been unable to accept our [...]
Paddy Power has the odds on which group will call a strike next December 15, 2016 After Southern rail strikes left commuters stranded, Post Office workers threatened branch closures before Christmas, cabin crew at British Airways voted for industrial action and even Argos drivers announced a disruptive strike before talking it out with their bosses, Paddy Power has now offered the odds on which group will strike next. "Glorious post-Brexit Britain is doing its best [...]
Southern rail debacle: The strikes aren’t on tomorrow but that doesn’t mean the trains will be running December 14, 2016 Southern rail commuters hoping to get to work tomorrow may need to take another day off and have been warned the network will be rife with reductions and cancellations. The Govia-owned firm has admitted some striking staff may not be able to get to work tomorrow because industrial action doesn't actually finish until midnight tonight. This will have a [...]