Rail union requests 38 days’ holiday and 35-hour week for its members

37 comments

1. People may complain that they have to work long hours so why shouldn’t these union members. But unions could lead the way to lower hours being the norm, which would be beneficial to everyone. The vast majority of worker rights came from the actions of unions in generations gone by.

2. That’s on par with my working week and actually a little less than my holiday allowance including bank holidays, so I see no issue,

3. Isn’t the key term “requested”, so that’s the starting point for negotiations, something the last government and their media didn’t get the hang of.

4. Seems reasonable enough. 35 hour week is 9-5 with an hour’s lunch. 38 days the equivalent of 30+Bank Holidays, which isn’t too much different to the average 9-5.

5. All this automation was meant to lower the number of hours people worked, whilst maintaining living standards, right? This is the way the world should be going, but a part of me feels it will only be those who unionise and have a monopoly.

6. That seems like pretty normal terms for a skilled job. It’s roughly what I get and I don’t even have to work odd hours and can listen to podcasts and go to the toilet whenever I want.

7. I’m in a workplace union and I work 35hrs a week. Its great, good for them. Well, not ‘great’, I would prefer to work even less/none but its better than my last place.

8. Good. Hopefully they are trailblazers and we can all piggyback of this. Unionise and organise, your bosses don’t care about you.

9. Higher pay

   Less hours

   No changes to working practices

   Govt being taken for a ride

10. My metal health would be much better with 38 days of AL and if someone offered me that I wouldn’t say no. Hence fair enough to the rail workers.

    Happier & well rested workers are less likely to make mistakes, they work in an industry that’s safety critical. It also means better long term retention so we don’t lose skilled workers and are constantly having to retrain new workers (the consequence of which I see day in and day out in the NHS)
    People advocating for better should make us want the same

    Or we could just flog them because that would then make us all feel better that everyone is suffering like us. Then when a loved one dies in an easily avoided crash we can just be outraged, blame the drivers/engineers and pat ourselves on the back that we’ve saved a few quid. And wait for the cycle to repeat

11. Does the timing of this request have anything to do with reports the government is going to ease back the striking laws soon?

12. Don’t complain, this should be the same for everyone good on them

13. Opening gambit for negotiations. They’ll take lower, and honestly, just a bit lower than this is normal for professional jobs.

    Wonder if the telegraph and mail will give that nuance in their reporting

14. “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

    ― Malcolm X

15. Ive had plenty of friends who claim to be very left wing turn around and moan about train drivers pay and that they are striking. They compare them to nurses and teachers. But the rail union being strong and fighting for its workers will only help other unions in their fights and then that will it time cause all working conditions to be better.

    AI is doing the job of 10 people. Its ludicrous that our working hours havent come down yet, they need to be fought for.

16. As always, the comment section on the article is full of people that have never thought critically in their life complaining about train drivers instead of realising that maybe other industries should unionise better. We need to move from a culture of tearing down people that do well to one of helping eachother also do well.

    I wonder what the people whining about train unions would think if they knew how much the people working in banks make lol

17. ‘Including bank holidays’ so not exactly extraordinary then.

    Also unions have been trying to get a 35 hour standard week for decades, I remember seeing posters that read ‘Drive for 35’ in the late 80’s.

    What I find astonishing is I work with a few people (in an office) who’s standard week is 40 hours when I’ve never done more than 37.5.

18. Soon they’ll be like Evrart Claire demanding all workers be on the board. 

19. Rather than complaining that a union is representing it’s workforce maybe everyone else should be taking their example and demanding better for themselves.

    Raise yourself to their level, don’t drag them down to yours

20. This should be the norm for all jobs (or rather 30h / week)

21. The Torygraph (and the Times) are really going in on rail workers atm aren’t they.

22. I for one welcome the prospect of the driver of the thousands of tons of metal I’m sat in doing massive speeds on rails with no grip being well rested and alert.

23. Currently do 35 hours a week with at my workplace (rail related). It’s great

24. How can they afford that? The train service is abysmal

25. Would be nice if it was like this for all of us, I think the norm for most UK companies is 25 days unless you have company benefits

26. This is a beneficial policy if they can get it implemented. If it becomes standard in one industry it can open it up for others. 35 hour working week should also incude an overtime ban to ensure that staff are rested.

27. Sounds great. Good news for all. Other industries and similar workplaces will have to compete. Higher qualified (better) employees will be more likely to seek employee on the railways… improving the rail infrastructure and services over time. A rising tide raises all ships.

28. Good on em. I couldn’t personally work in a workplace without a strong union.

29. Who keeps on voting Telegraph articles (submitted by The Telegraphs official Reddit account) to the top of this sub? It’s really really weird.

30. Bear in mind that working can include travelling as a passenger on a return trip.

31. I’m all for a reduced work week but why do these bastards need to get special treatment with 10 extra holidays whilst everyone else has 28 or less??? Other fields are going to complain if this goes through that it’s unfair as well; NHS and teaching staff are already striking often.

    Plus some train workers already get paid much more than other career fields.

32. Good, I think everyone should get that. It’s a shame we don’t.

33. I’m sure my elderly dad will be the first to kick off about this despite him getting the same when he worked for the prison service.

34. >Rail union requests 38 days’ holiday and 35-hour week for its members

    And?

35. Unions ruin bloody everything, a bunch of lazy work shy communists

36. Hopefully this happens and it pushes others to do the same.

37. The rail unions are leading the way in what all of us could and should be working together towards. Please don’t fall for the divisive rhetoric that rail workers are ‘entitled’ or ‘greedy’ – those are words which far better fit the bosses and their lackeys who want to exploit workers’ labour.