You say a bee in their bonnet, I say a principled stand. I get the (Northern) train every day, I have not met a passenger who doesn't side with the unions on this. How is safety, security & disabled access going to work. Have you caught the last train home on a Saturday night? The striking guards have lost thousands in wages for something they believe in. It's a pity the rest of society is not so principled.

I'm not sure why you have to conclude your post by suggesting the pending environmental catastrophe is reserved for weirdos. It has been accurately predicted by respected groups and scientists for plenty of years. With regards to the main gist of your post, the reduction in resources, without strong world wide agreement, will not be a leveler; quite the opposite. The normal rules of economics are that price will go up as resources become scarce. The rich, greedy & corrupt will be circling like vultures. Do you trust the party of austerity, or Trump, to manage that situation equitably? More desperate reactions by those without resources will result. The flow of migrants will make the current situation look like a primary school dinner queue.

Why is it?

how many accidents have they been that to justify an extra guard, disabled passengers can be helped on to the train and off again at their station. On busy trains you never see the guard. There is simply no realistic justification for them given we now have automatic barrier at virtually every station. Loss of money more fool them I bet those who work directly for the union and are encouraging/agitating this dispute for their own selfish ends are no lossing any pay.

I catch the train to Manchester 3 times a week I would rather they spend the money shortening a 30 mile journey to respectible time frames

You're in the minority holding that view of those I've read on social media. Personally I feel much safer knowing there's a guard on board, especially on the last train out of Leeds or anywhere on the network on a Saturday.

Perhaps if the choice was reduced ticket costs and no guard or 15 minute time saving and no guard you might get a different answer.

Are you seriously saying a guard is going to prevent a serious case of violence caused by a fueled up thug - really?

Unions are in the business of halting progress e.g. Barbara Dean, Arthur Scargill, Len McCulskey they are are all the same. Fortunately Aitken handed McCluskey his backside.

How is that Unite still have a final salary scheme for its officials - funded by by its members who seldom have access to such a scheme - say everything you need to know about the higher up union bosses

I think that you are missing the point.
IF we are heading for some kind of environmental disaster or, far more frequent droughts/floods, caused by climate change, the one sure fire way to help would be for EVERONE to consume less (and protect the planets resources).
Unfortunately, in a consumer driven society (especially with the throw away culture that now seems to exist) there would have to be a monumental shift in just ow society is set up.
For everyone to consume less, travel less frequently etc, there would have to be a cataclysmic change in how EVERYONE leads their lives.

We would all have to accept earning far less etc but, how could the wings be clipped at the top of the food chain.
People who have revelled in ove consumption and who take pride in showing off their wealthy excesses.

I dont actually think it can be done and real change will only begin when it's too late.

The West will blame over population in the Far East and Asia and they, rightly will point out that while there is an issue with population numbers, they aren't to blame.

The irony of course, is that the 'progress' you speak of, is the exact same progress which has led to the grotesque wealth inequality you've challenged in the thread you started.

I disagree - all that unions are doing is making it more expensive for the average person to access the necessities of normal existence. They are blockers to progress - perhaps if they were more prepared to embrace new innovation and moving labour markets they might actually save more jobs.

Industry cannot stand still and it will always engineer people out of a process but it will also come up new products that need people to make them.

As I said were it a choice of cheaper tickets or a guard I guarantee most would opt for cheaper tickets.

Our economic system does a better job of protecting capital than of protecting workers. It is, after all, a capitalist system. A fairly extreme one, in practice and imo, but the one we’re familiar with, so it feels normal.

It should be at least as good to be born talented and hard-working as it is to be born wealthy.



I’m not sure that is true. In our lifetimes maybe, but technology is changing the world ever faster. It could be an opportunity for universal incomes and a leisure revolution, as was optimistically imagined in the 1970s. Now there’s an assumption that the machines will be owned by a few dozen maladjusted Bond villain super capitalists, who will probably hunt the rest of us for sport.

Or we just end up with more BS jobs... https://strikemag.org/bull-jobs/

Or we just end up with more BS jobs... https://strikemag.org/bull-jobs/

There are already too many humans on the planet , eventually we will destroy it , then the cockroaches get their turn