Irish Rail strike days

Tube

mickydoomsux wrote: »

It is great value if you are actually using it i suppose, a few of the guys with Rolls-Royce type private health insurance plans are considering pulling out

I have an average private sector insurance policy that covers none of the gp or prescription costs. I'd happily swap for your deal.

punisher5112

Why are people so fasinated with what others have and don't have ?

Hilly Bill

may06 wrote: »

Is this a possible likelihood?


Further stoppages are planned for September, but Mr O'Leary warned the possibility of an all-out stoppage cannot be ruled out, given that the union has a mandate of more than 80pc in favour of this action.

They havent. They didnt tell anyone at the time of the ballot that it may be an all out strike , if they did i doubt that the strike would have gone ahead.

Hilly Bill

punisher5112 wrote: »

Why are people so fasinated with what others have and don't have ?

Its a case of begrudgery. Some not happy unless others are down to their level of pay or they the same as others.

Hilly Bill

Tube wrote: »

I have an average private sector insurance policy that covers none of the gp or prescription costs. I'd happily swap for your deal.

Does that policy cover you for A & E visits?

Hilly Bill

comongethappy wrote: »

Thanks.

In the event of needing a GP, how much of the fee can you claw back from the fund?

None and its only at selected GP's.

Tube

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Does that policy cover you for A & E visits?

I don't think so bit if I'm totally honest I can't remember. The gp charges €60 for the letter which it doesn't cover. I do remember that!

Tube

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Its a case of begrudgery. Some not happy unless others are down to their level of pay or they the same as others.

In fairness this thread is about IE and their pay and conditions. A full picture is required so that people can inform themselves and come to an opinion.

JayRoc

Infini2 wrote: »

About 36k would be the lowest end of the scale at depotman grade.


Pretty much yes on this.



Only ones that could be on close to that would be the drivers at the top of the scale (10years).

Thats what therye saying but the key issue on this is Trust. We got a goverment that undermined the previous cost saving agreement that people signed up to within months of it being agreed via cutting the subsidy again. As it stands people working there believe theyre lying and theyll just keep undermining the place since they got no interest in actually maintaining it for the people

No major benefits bar privilage fares for travelling from where im working the pension for most is basically something that is meant to augment the state pension when people retire its no payday if thats what your wondering.

As far as the staff position goes they agreed to reduced terms and conditions in return for core pay being maintained and the goverment and managment basically undermined it within 2 months of agreement. The managment and goverment basically have no credibility atm and if workers dont make a stand theyll just keep walking over them.

Supposedly but that being said you got the goverment thats tossed a bunch of taxes on everyone including them dramatically reducing income and then theres the water taxes beginning soon. Throw a morgage and young family into the mix and that money can be the difference for some.



To be honest though the way the companys being run the last few years expecially with the gutting of the front line staff has basically brought things to the point where the future of the company is in serious doubt. Theres been alot of mismanagment with things like the spending on excess trains not to mention the sheer amount of holes with revenue and the free travel pass scheme. Basically its either face the issues down now or wait till they slowly bleed the place dry down the road. Either way could be the same result so better to face down these issues now than have them constantly kicking them down the road till its too late.

I very much appreciate your honesty, no-one made you come here and detail pay scales, benefits, etc. Fair play...sincerely.

But as someone who's been working full-time since the age of seventeen and who has spent a lot on his continuing education... to still end up, most weeks, taking home something close to the minimum industrial wage, I can't help but wonder at the mentality of people who'd strike because they're being asked to temporarily give up 10-15 quid a week while earning a minimum of 36,000 PA at the "lowest end of the pay scale", while having to fork out all of 2.80 a week for FREE GP cover for them and their entire family?
(EDIT) Plus a pension? Come on, lads. Get real. Yee are doing fine here.

Personally I would crawl over broken glass to have those kind of pay/conditions.

mickydoomsux

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Its a case of begrudgery. Some not happy unless others are down to their level of pay or they the same as others.

Pretty much.

Disregard the fact that a lot of IE employees work 48 hours a week, evenings, weekends, at the crack of dawn and long after sundown for a flat rate pay which is a little bit over the national average wage and the front-line folks are nearly guaranteed to be threatened with physical violence by the "vulnerable" free travel holders roughly twice a week (the last guy who did it to me this very week told me i wouldn't even see it coming as he was an inch from my face shouting at me, lovely :eek:).

We're all just spongers who do nuthin' but drink tae and laugh at the passengers. We should all be fired and hired back on minimum wage and be glad of it.

end of the road

punisher5112 wrote: »

Why are people so fasinated with what others have and don't have ?

ireland. the land of the begrudgers. and keep up with the joneses

JayRoc

mickydoomsux wrote: »

It makes trips to your selected GP free basically.

Hilly Bill wrote: »

None and its only at selected GP's.

So which is it? 2.80 per week for free GP cover or not?

end of the road

JayRoc wrote: »

I very much appreciate your honesty, no-one made you come here and detail pay scales, benefits, etc. Fair play...sincerely.

But as someone who's been working full-time since the age of seventeen and who has spent a lot on his continuing education... to still end up, most weeks, taking home something close to the minimum industrial wage, I can't help but wonder at the mentality of people who'd strike because they're being asked to temporarily give up 10-15 quid a week while earning a minimum of 36,000 PA at the "lowest end of the pay scale", while having to fork out all of 2.80 a week for FREE GP cover for them and their entire family?

Personally I would crawl over broken glass to have those kind of pay/conditions.

its not over the pay cut though. its the catlist yes but all the other issues which are more important have caused this.

Tube

I have come to the conclusion that there are so many vested interests that post in this forum that a reasonable and rational discussion is not possible. For every one member of the public there seems to be a multiple that have some connection to IE or trains that are willing to shout everyone else down.

As they say on Dragons Den, for that reason I'm out.

dublinman1990

Here's a few questions that I would ask the employees of Irish Rail.

Could you tell us how many managers have been employed in the company say over a five year period, who are in either in a temporary or permanent employment contract? Are these managers employed with corporate communications, i.e. with the likes of Barry Kenny and so forth?

What is the general experience of these managers who work with it's frontline staff?

How many hours do they work on average per day in the company?

punisher5112

I stand up for what I believe is right.

Don't be a sheep and follow the rest to the bottom.

Why don't we all work for free.

mickydoomsux

JayRoc wrote: »

So which is it? 2.80 per week for free GP cover or not?

It's €2.80 a week for me and i had to pick my GP.

JayRoc

mickydoomsux wrote: »

It's €2.80 a week for me and i had to pick my GP.

Jesus, you sound like a politician! So you DO get free GP care after paying 2.80 per week? Righto.

mickydoomsux

dublinman1990 wrote: »

Here's a few questions that I would ask the employees of Irish Rail.

How many managers have been employed in the company say over a five year period, who are in either in temporary or permanent employment? Are these managers employed with corporate communications, i.e. with the likes of Barry Kenny and so forth?

What is your experience of these managers who work with it's frontline staff?

How many hours do they work on average per day in the company?

Current managers in IE are an odd breed because they are usually people who have never experienced your job and they are more interested in cutting costs than providing the customer with a good experience or providing staff with a safe work environment.

All they care about is the elimination of overtime, "safety" stuff (that is the most important thing in the company now, sorry customers!) and the cutting of other expenditure.

Basically they are penny pinchers who don't know what is going on at the ground level but they get paid a fortune for showing up for a few hours Mon to Fri. I genuinely have zero respect for our new manager who has been in-situ for 2-ish years because he has no idea how my job is done and he hides in his office when problems arise.

mickydoomsux

JayRoc wrote: »

Jesus, you sound like a politician! So you DO get free GP care after paying 2.80 per week? Righto.

I feel like i answered the question fully.

No need to get excited, sweetie.

may06

JayRoc wrote: »

Jesus, you sound like a politician! So you DO get free GP care after paying 2.80 per week? Righto.

How is it free if he's already paying €2.80/week???

Hilly Bill

mickydoomsux wrote: »

Pretty much.

Disregard the fact that a lot of IE employees work 48 hours a week, evenings, weekends, at the crack of dawn and long after sundown for a flat rate pay which is a little bit over the national average wage and the front-line folks are nearly guaranteed to be threatened with physical violence by the "vulnerable" free travel holders roughly twice a week (the last guy who did it to me this very week told me i wouldn't even see it coming as he was an inch from my face shouting at me, lovely :eek:).

We're all just spongers who do nuthin' but drink tae and laugh at the passengers. We should all be fired and hired back on minimum wage and be glad of it.

To be fair, there are a few that shouldnt be there and have some neck to strike.

JayRoc

mickydoomsux wrote: »

I feel like i answered the question fully.

No need to get excited, sweetie.

I only took umbrage as Hilly Bill seemed to be contradicting you, honestly wasn't intended as a pop at you. Honeychops.

Hilly Bill

JayRoc wrote: »

So which is it? 2.80 per week for free GP cover or not?

Read that back to yourself and see if it makes sense. If you pay for something, its not free then is it?

JayRoc

may06 wrote: »

How is it free if he's already paying €2.80/week???

That, dear boy, is why I carefully typed the word "after". And if anyone is arguing the toss over paying 2.80 pw for free GP care, I don't know what to say to them.

And that's coming from a man who's seen a GP twice in 19 years.

Hilly Bill

Tube wrote: »

I don't think so bit if I'm totally honest I can't remember. The gp charges €60 for the letter which it doesn't cover. I do remember that!

If the GP sends you to A&E i dont think you have to pay the €100 charge.

Off topic i know but look into it and find out exactly what you are covered for.

dublinman1990

mickydoomsux wrote: »

Current managers in IE are an odd breed because they are usually people who have never experienced your job and they are more interested in cutting costs than providing the customer with a good experience or providing staff with a safe work environment.

All they care about is the elimination of overtime, "safety" stuff (that is the most important thing in the company now, sorry customers!) and the cutting of other expenditure.

Basically they are penny pinchers who don't know what is going on at the ground level but they get paid a fortune for showing up for a few hours Mon to Fri. I genuinely have zero respect for our new manager who has been in-situ for 2-ish years because he has no idea how my job is done and he hides in his office when problems arise.

Could you please elaborate by what you mean when you say Safety Stuff within Irish Rail (the part that I highlighted in bold).

What type of experience does your manager had to get to be employed by Irish Rail? Specifically how many hours does they work per day?

Oh and thanks for the feedback btw.

Hilly Bill

Tube wrote: »

In fairness this thread is about IE and their pay and conditions. A full picture is required so that people can inform themselves and come to an opinion.

And some think that just because they have had pay cuts then everyone else must accept them as well. All that does is drive pay across the country to the bottom if nobody stands up for theirs.

Hilly Bill

JayRoc wrote: »

That, dear boy, is why I carefully typed the word "after". And if anyone is arguing the toss over paying 2.80 pw for free GP care, I don't know what to say to them.

And that's coming from a man who's seen a GP twice in 19 years.

ITS NOT FREE IS IT .

noodler

Hilly Bill wrote: »

And some think that just because they have had pay cuts then everyone else must accept them as well. All that does is drive pay across the country to the bottom if nobody stands up for theirs.

Its not as simple as that, why should more of taxpayers money go to Irish Rail?

kingshankly

It's go only some get value some don't 150 a year which is 3 visits
Which is probably an average maybe less have been to the doctors once in tge last 10 years so it has cost me 1500 for that visit

Hilly Bill

noodler wrote: »

Its not as simple as that, why should more of taxpayers money go to Irish Rail?

Why should the government be allowed to drive down wages across this country when people have fought to get them to a decent level? Im talking about all sectors of employment not just IR.

kingshankly

noodler wrote: »

Its not as simple as that, why should more of taxpayers money go to Irish Rail?

In Britain the subsidy is 4 billion to a privatised railway

JayRoc

Hilly Bill wrote: »

ITS NOT FREE IS IT .

No, fair enough. I perhaps should've said "no charge after 2.80 per week".

devnull

Hilly Bill wrote: »

And some think that just because they have had pay cuts then everyone else must accept them as well. All that does is drive pay across the country to the bottom if nobody stands up for theirs.

Some people took pay cuts to save their jobs and without them they would have lost their jobs. I did and I am glad for one I did seeing our competitors go out of business in some cases.

Are you saying they should have "stood up for their rights" even if it meant them getting redundant or the company closing down? Come on, the kind of mentality you have is fine in an economic boom, but we're far from in one the last few years.

Though it is amusing to read people who are on very good salaries blame the lower paid people for their problems, then also blame the higher paid people for the state of their company. So basically everyone else is to blame apart from themselves.

Get Real.

may06

JayRoc wrote: »

That, dear boy, is why I carefully typed the word "after". And if anyone is arguing the toss over paying 2.80 pw for free GP care, I don't know what to say to them.

And that's coming from a man who's seen a GP twice in 19 years.

Its not free...which bit do you not understand - 2.80/week is paid..There's a difference between something thats' free and something thats subsidised you know?

Hilly Bill

devnull wrote: »

Some people took pay cuts to save their jobs and without them they would have lost their jobs. I did and I am glad for one I did seeing our competitors go out of business in some cases.

Are you saying they should have "stood up for their rights" even if it meant them getting redundant or the company closing down? Come on, the kind of mentality you have is fine in an economic boom, but we're far from in one the last few years.

Though it is amusing to read people who are on very good salaries blame the lower paid people for their problems, then also blame the higher paid people for the state of their company. So basically everyone else is to blame apart from themselves.

Get Real.

Was one of the major shareholders of that company the government?

devnull

So what other benefits do you guys get apart from free travel?

Health Insurance?
Family Travel?
Discounted Gym Membership?

Pipmae

I have an IR annual ticket Gormanston to Pearse (and I pay handsomely for the pleasure). I had no intention of travelling by IR on Sunday or Monday last. However I'm almost sure I'll have to take a hit in the next few weeks. It could be a bus fare, petrol to drive to Dublin City & parking, etc. An IR refund on the day won't cover the hit.

I'm going to apply for credit for last Sunday and Monday. Any thoughts? Shoot me now for the dishonesty!

devnull

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Was one of the major shareholders of that company the government?

I'm not going to go into explicit details the shareholders of my previous or current employers on a public forum for obvious reasons, but no, we were not government owned.

But the shareholders in question had no more money to give, since they had other businesses that were struggling in the recession as well, all which had to make sacrifices just like the government now in this country where all parts of the public sector and other semi states are hit.

I know you guys got used to Bertie Ahern solving every single strike by writing out a cheque for however much money you wanted, but spending money like there is no tomorrow and constantly throwing it around like it's going out of fashion speaks volumes about why this country was brought to it's knees.

Look at all the problems Ireland had before the boom and after, for all the money we had what did it achieve? Very little to the average joe on the streets, but instead we have a very well paid public sector and people in the semi states that are paid a hell of a lot more on average than most countries.

Neither a private or a public model of transport works 100% since in both models you have a problem with greed. In the private model the shareholders are the ones with the greed problem, and in the public model the workers are the ones who are greed, so really there isn't much between them, just different parties syphooning off the money for their own vested interests.

mickydoomsux

devnull wrote: »

I'm not going to go into explicit details the shareholders of my previous or current employers on a public forum for obvious reasons, but no, we were not government owned.

Did roughly 60% of your customers "pay" the equivalent of €100 a year to use whatever your company provided while the remaining 40% paid thousands?

mickydoomsux

dublinman1990 wrote: »

Could you please elaborate by what you mean when you say Safety Stuff within Irish Rail (the part that I highlighted in bold).

Literally anything will be paid for out of company coffers if you can argue that it is due to safety.

The station i work in had numerous blind-spots in the security cameras which meant that staff could be easily held-up opening or closing the station but nothing was done about it until a hazard report was lodged saying that a customer had a slip, trip or fall in the same areas with no CCTV footage available. New cameras sprung up within a week.

If we want anything done we have to prove that an accident can happen to a customer before management will loosen the purse strings to fix it.

I can pretty much guarantee a staff member will be seriously hurt in the next year by a hazard/maniac because the company doesn't give two ****s about us and will only address issues that effect passengers.

devnull

It's hard to use that analogy to describe our company as it was a very different industry.

Thanks to our hard work through the recession and everyone sticking together and all trying to make a go of things our number of patrons was only effected by a low single digit percentage wise.

If we were hit by say 20% over the course of a few years I'd hate to think what would have happened, but we all worked doubly as hard, taking short term sacrafices to save the company.

In the end most of us got the pay we lost back and most of the perks as well. We then picked up the business of our rivals who went bust by not adjusting their cost base enough, and shortly will get a new pay offer at the end of the year with a small increase.

Thanks to that management and staff have a great working relationship, far better than it was before since we all worked together to resolve our problems and the company is all the better for it. For sure we took some short term pain but in the long term it paid off.

end of the road

noodler wrote: »

Its not as simple as that, why should more of taxpayers money go to Irish Rail?

to keep the level of services we currently have going and to invest in the infrastructure. the railway is worth every penny and more. we all get a good deal from CIE as strange as it sounds. pay little and get the services we have. i'm one of the first to criticise if stupid mistakes are made but subsidy wise we get a good deal.

end of the road

Pipmae wrote: »

I have an IR annual ticket Gormanston to Pearse (and I pay handsomely for the pleasure). I had no intention of travelling by IR on Sunday or Monday last. However I'm almost sure I'll have to take a hit in the next few weeks. It could be a bus fare, petrol to drive to Dublin City & parking, etc. An IR refund on the day won't cover the hit.

I'm going to apply for credit for last Sunday and Monday. Any thoughts? Shoot me now for the dishonesty!

what do you mean? as in apply for the credit on the ticket even though you didn't travel? you can try but if you are caught well you know the rest

end of the road

devnull wrote: »

It's hard to use that analogy to describe our company as it was a very different industry.

Thanks to our hard work through the recession and everyone sticking together and all trying to make a go of things our number of patrons was only effected by a low single digit percentage wise.

If we were hit by say 20% over the course of a few years I'd hate to think what would have happened, but we all worked doubly as hard, taking short term sacrafices to save the company.

In the end most of us got the pay we lost back and most of the perks as well. We then picked up the business of our rivals who went bust by not adjusting their cost base enough, and shortly will get a new pay offer at the end of the year with a small increase.

Thanks to that management and staff have a great working relationship, far better than it was before since we all worked together to resolve our problems and the company is all the better for it. For sure we took some short term pain but in the long term it paid off.

but thats it. you and management worked together. the management in IE won't work with the staff and the staff don't trust them.

end of the road

Tube wrote: »

I have come to the conclusion that there are so many vested interests that post in this forum that a reasonable and rational discussion is not possible.

what is a reasonable and rational discussion in your opinion? if one is wanting the typical rabel rabel on the likes of the journal then no thanks i don't want it here myself but each to their own

Tube wrote: »

For every one member of the public there seems to be a multiple that have some connection to IE or trains that are willing to shout everyone else down.

thats the nature of forums like this though. you want the people who actually know whats going on within a company to tell you so of course they will have to have a vested interest.

dublinman1990

mickydoomsux wrote: »

Literally anything will be paid for out of company coffers if you can argue that it is due to safety.

The station i work in had numerous blind-spots in the security cameras which meant that staff could be easily held-up opening or closing the station but nothing was done about it until a hazard report was lodged saying that a customer had a slip, trip or fall in the same areas with no CCTV footage available. New cameras sprung up within a week.

If we want anything done we have to prove that an accident can happen to a customer before management will loosen the purse strings to fix it.

I can pretty much guarantee a staff member will be seriously hurt in the next year by a hazard/maniac because the company doesn't give two ****s about us and will only address issues that effect passengers.

I would ask you these questions in this way!

Are the staff at Irish Rail including those at the frontline given appropriate training to learn the health and safety aspects of their job regularly?

Does Irish Rail carry out risk assessments on a regular basis for various health and safety improvements in your workplace for both passengers and employees?

cdebru

devnull wrote: »

I'm not going to go into explicit details the shareholders of my previous or current employers on a public forum for obvious reasons, but no, we were not government owned.

But the shareholders in question had no more money to give, since they had other businesses that were struggling in the recession as well, all which had to make sacrifices just like the government now in this country where all parts of the public sector and other semi states are hit.

I know you guys got used to Bertie Ahern solving every single strike by writing out a cheque for however much money you wanted, but spending money like there is no tomorrow and constantly throwing it around like it's going out of fashion speaks volumes about why this country was brought to it's knees.

Look at all the problems Ireland had before the boom and after, for all the money we had what did it achieve? Very little to the average joe on the streets, but instead we have a very well paid public sector and people in the semi states that are paid a hell of a lot more on average than most countries.

Neither a private or a public model of transport works 100% since in both models you have a problem with greed. In the private model the shareholders are the ones with the greed problem, and in the public model the workers are the ones who are greed, so really there isn't much between them, just different parties syphooning off the money for their own vested interests.

The difference is I presume the shareholders in your company were not forcing the company you worked for to give their goods or services for free to a third of the adult population of the country without properly recompensing the company ?????

It is deeply unfair to accuse people of greed for wanting to hold onto their current wages when they see so much waste that is not being tackled, instead the management want to take the easier option and cut wages rather than protect revenue and tackle waste first.

cdebru

JayRoc wrote: »

That, dear boy, is why I carefully typed the word "after". And if anyone is arguing the toss over paying 2.80 pw for free GP care, I don't know what to say to them.

And that's coming from a man who's seen a GP twice in 19 years.

It is €145 a year that is roughly 3 visits a year whether you go or don't go in your case it would have cost you €2766 for 2 visits so probably the most expensive GP visits and definitely not free.