You have some neck....your comments are lazy and ignorant to say the least.
Ah c'mon, do I have to go down to the micro level here?
Really ? Is that really where you are at. I will assume it was a momentary aberration and move on.
Without trade unions, agitating, it is unlikely that we would have 8 hrs working days, five days a week, minimum wage, annual leave, public holidays, overtime rates, unfair dismissal legislation, employment rights, equality legislation etc, etc.
Labelling the drivers as 'grossly overpaid'
and laying the blame at the door at trade unions is folly.
The employer offered the pay rates as part of its submission to win the tender. It offered pay scale reviews every five years as part of its submission to win the tender.
In 2006 prior to the economic crisis, and after the said pay review, pay increases were agreed until the next pay review.
Bring on the economic crisis and all changed. Such was the uncertainty, management inferred pay cuts and redundancies if unions pushed for the implementation of the agreed pay rises.
SIPTU, representing the workers, brokered a deal with management. A deferral of the agreed pay rises in return for a commitment not to cut pay or pursue redundancies. Each side held a condition - the right to review. If economic conditions adversely impacted on profits and productivity, management would seek pay cuts and redundancies.
If profits and productivity were not adversely affected, unions would seek the implementation of agreed pay rises.
The result, the LUAS works continued to increase passenger numbers, increase revenue, increase expansion plans.
The (in)famous 50% pay increase was related to two five-year pay reviews. 5% a year, a negotiating position with a company that was growing and expanding during the worst economic downturn ever.
They settled at 1.8% a year for 10yrs.
I agree, but I would add that it is all past tense.
The get roughly one and a third times the average wage, for a very basic job, I will dig out the video if you like.
No blame to the unions. the drivers representatives have done an excellent job for their members.
The Luas dispute illustrated all that is worst in Trade Unions.
It certainly says nothing to my contention that the lack of wage pressure in the economy is in part due to the inactivity of the TUs, especially in the casual work sector.
You are really reaching there!I will, after you have answered mine. This relates to the strike at the Green Isle plant in Kildare, where the workers make pizzas.
http://m.independent.ie/breaking-news/irish-news/deal-sees-workers-end-hunger-strike-26637593.html
Do pizza worker's not go on strike?
Fair enough. The Trade Union movement has achieved many good things over the years. I am proud of the significant part my family played in the foundation of the Trade Union movement in Ireland. In my opinion they have betrayed the people they were set up to support and are now a protectionist group protecting middle class earners from the poor. It was meant to be an international movement but it agitates to keep the poor stuck in their cycle of poverty by protecting it's members from competition. They are worse than the corporations who exploit the poor.Some people clearly think that way. Others would disagree. I would be one of them.
Therefore mobility of labour is critical to our future and those who will not change will be unemployable. Nothing restricts labour mobility like a Trade Union.But the one point that is missing, in my opinion, is if the robot technology age is upon us, then there will be mass displacement of employment.
Have you ever read an Iain M Banks book?But if everything is free, who decides who gets to live in a mansion with a flash car and who does not? Or can we all expect to live rich style lifestyles? Why not, if robots do everything for us?
Are you suggesting that people in the minimum wage are lazy and unreliable?!If you pay minimum wage or close to it, expect unreliability and disruption. Is that how the Capital city transport network should operate?
In my opinion they (Trade Unions) have betrayed the people they were set up to support and are now a protectionist group protecting middle class earners from the poor.
It was meant to be an international movement but it agitates to keep the poor stuck in their cycle of poverty by protecting it's members from competition.
mobility of labour is critical to our future and those who will not change will be unemployable. Nothing restricts labour mobility like a Trade Union.
You make some reasonable points. But the one point that is missing, in my opinion, is if the robot technology age is upon us, then there will be mass displacement of employment. If there is mass unemployment, who is going to buy the goods and services that the robots make?
The biggest challenge is likely to be a shrinking middle class with associated fewer opportunities for upward social migration, and the importance of education in obtaining well paid employment.
The longer inevitable change is resisted the harder and more painful and damaging it is to finally make that change.Ah, the Luddite Fallacy. As with previous leaps in automation, there won't be mass unemployment, just an evolution of what work is and the nature of jobs available.
The biggest challenge is likely to be a shrinking middle class with associated fewer opportunities for upward social migration, and the importance of education in obtaining well paid employment.
You are really reaching there!
If someone works in a bus manufacturing plant does that make them a bus driver?
Fair enough. The Trade Union movement has achieved many good things over the years.
In my opinion they have betrayed the people they were set up to support and are now a protectionist group protecting middle class earners from the poor
It was meant to be an international movement but it agitates to keep the poor stuck in their cycle of poverty by protecting it's members from competition.
The longer inevitable change is resisted the harder and more painful and damaging it is to finally make that change.
Ah, the Luddite Fallacy. As with previous leaps in automation, there won't be mass unemployment, just an evolution of what work is and the nature of jobs available.
The biggest challenge is likely to be a shrinking middle class with associated fewer opportunities for upward social migration, and the importance of education in obtaining well paid employment.
You are really reaching there!
If someone works in a bus manufacturing plant does that make them a bus driver?
Are you suggesting that people in the minimum wage are lazy and unreliable?!
Nail on the head.
Exactly, and campaigns against imports from less developed countries thus denying them the opportunity to develop.
Trade Unions may be essential to prevent exploitation, but in the medium term Trade Unions with too much power impoverish everybody.
I agree, long-term, that is true. In the short-term there will be disruption. If that disruption is not managed effectively, then mass unemployment (for a period) could be a reality.
Their talk of "a race to the bottom" and lamenting outsourcing to lower cost countries.Can you highlight a campaign against imports from less developed countries please?
How does fair trade impoverish everyone? Since we started trading openly with the Far East hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty with little impact on us.Essential to prevent exploitation, but simultaneously impoverishing everybody!
I presume you don't include small farmers in sub-Saharan Africa in the freeloader group.That is a broadstroke generalised view. I agree the unions have many flaws, but they can only stand up for those who are prepared to unite together. The free-loaders who benefit from any improvement in their working conditions while their colleagues pay their subscriptions week in, week out, year in, year out, are the biggest betrayers of all.
It works against open markets and labour flexibility. In doing so it agitates to keep poor stuck in cycle of poverty.It still is an international movement. It doesn't agitate to keep poor stuck in cycle of poverty.
Which is it?Not at all. The disruption, if you pay only minimum wage, comes from the fact that it is easier for the employee to change from one employment to another. Thus having an increasing staff turnover rate may lead to a disruption of services, this makes the service unreliable.
An employer I know, who runs a fast food restaurant says the only people who will work late nights for minimum wage are young people and students. The problem is, they are forever wanting to swap shifts, turning in late, not turning up at all, there is always a party to go to etc...etc...
Their talk of "a race to the bottom" and lamenting outsourcing to lower cost countries.
It wasn't so long ago that we were the lower cost country which the jobs were being outsourced to.
I presume you don't include small farmers in sub-Saharan Africa in the freeloader group.
It works against open markets and labour flexibility. In doing so it agitates to keep poor stuck in cycle of poverty.
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