Fúck off Una.

I really hope it isn’t because Transdev upped their offer. They should not be giving in.

I hope trannydev have gone all the way in order to get this wage transformation done and that the looooser drivers like the new changed boss they have after all this is said and done God help them all

Drivers realised that they’re not going to be paid for working half-days BUT they can’t change the half-day strikes to full-day strikes as it would interfere with the Leaving Cert

So they’re stuck between a rock & a hard place. And now they’ve been giving an option to cancel the immediate strikes, including a bunch of half-days (I can guarantee next week’s strikes will be cancelled also) and to spin it as giving the appearance of them being giving some leeway.

From Transdev’s comments to date, nothing is going to be tabled above the 13% agreed with the other bands of employees. And let’s not forget that Transdev operate in something like 20 countries. There’s a lot more in the message they’re sending to other countries, than what’s actually riding on the Luas deal here itself.

I can’t see Transdev offering anything like 20%, 18% again, or even 15%.

Where’s Wally? I want to set him up on a date.

solidarity with transdev

If i was a shareholder Una i’d take great pleasure in working night and day to put you and your comrades on the dole.

Fair play Una. You’ve gotten right up the noses of the neo liberal gimps that prowl the Journal.

Solidarity with the Luas drivers, the Tesco and Cadbury workers, the 999 operators, the nurses, the teachers and all workers struggling to obtain a greater share of the wealth which we create. As the data clearly shows, the trend over the past few decades has been overwhelmingly in the opposite direction with greater and greater wealth accumulating to capital owners and less and less to the workers. This has disastrous consequences for society and it’s long past time we reversed the rotten system which sees 62 individuals now holding the same wealth as the poorest half of the globes population, 3500 million people.

Paying all workers a decent wage is in the interests of the vast majority. Business in general wants its customers to have as much money in their pockets as possible to purchase their products and services and generate revenue and profit. In contrast, each individual firm wants to pay their workers as little as possible to reduce costs in order to maximize profit. In the macro economy, the workers ARE the customers and this glaring contradiction is lost on the slavering neo liberals eternally demanding wage cuts and ‘flexibility’ such as zero hour contracts in the labour market.

It’s always aggregate demand and spending through the whole economy that ultimately creates and maintains jobs. Someone’s spending is always someone else’s job and income as the macro economy is circular. It is the aggregate spending of everyone in the economy, public, private, individuals and businesses that maintains and creates employment. We have seen the result of slashed government and private sector spending over the past 8 years of Austerity reflected in our massive dole queues, planes full of emigrants and mounting social problems such as the homelessness crisis.

Around half of any money that the Luas drivers get in a pay rise will end up increasing the government’s tax take which can be used to fund social services like health and education which benefit us all. The remainder of the pay increase will be spent in the local economy supporting other jobs and families. One person’s spending is another person’s income and job as the macro economy is circular. Transdev profits in contrast will be hoovered out of the country in dividend payments etc and will do nothing to support the local economy.

More money in the hands of the working class in beneficial for society generally. More money in the hands of the minority capitalist elite is bad news as they already have an obscene share of the world’s wealth and continue to hoard ever more.

It’s interesting to hear the majority here arguing against their own interests and for more money to accrue to those who already have too much.

Now I wonder who might benefit from keeping us in blind ignorance on the nature of the class divide and how the macro economy actually works? Possibly the kind of people who have accounts with Mossack Fonseca in Panama maybe?

Broken Fcuking record.. No one is interested in your bullcrap Wally. Move on.

Wally – are the Luas drivers going to be wearing nappies ?

And who is going to force them to wear them – the “banksters” or the “neoliberals”?

Or maybe you have backed down on that claim

Wally please show your workings how will 50% of the pay rise end up in local economy? Do drivers not take foreign holidays or use the Internet for shopping?

@Wayne – Pretty sure I just figured out why Wally never answers direct questions

If you take each individual paragraph above and Google it, it shows he says the **exact** same thing several times (word-for-word) in other Journal articles.

and the guards wally?

David There’s certainly a job for you somewhere in the Guards with such startling powers of deduction. Though let’s hope you’re not too honest or the Commissioner will try to have you destroyed as in the McCabe case.

Wally, it’s because of the like of you, I hate the word “solidarity”.

Una, if you have a pension, your scheme may well have shares in transdev.

Solidarity with the worker commuters.

The driver will either spend their pay rise on holidays in Majorca, or the smarter ones will invest in stocks & shares.

An original post, Wally? I feel so honoured.

Yawwwwwwwnnnnnn…

Yawn

Don’t mind Wally. He can’t even answer such simple questions as ‘how much is a fair wage’ and ‘what is the dividing line between working class and upper class’ without throwing out some diversionary tactic or refusing to answer.

Just like the rest of the AAA communists.

You and your colleagues are a joke Una

You’d think that one of the 85 people have gave a thumbs down would have corrected me. Mandate pay there members while on strike BTW, so you LUAS lads might want to jump over there.

@on the outside

They do get paid by the unions on strike days.

But only €40/day.

Peter, you mean like the systems that systems that exist in Lausaunne Switzerland, Holland, Edinburgh (next year). Technology is not the problem

So the populist angle continues, the unions are greedy and bad and the multinational is the people’s friend, what nonsense.

@Una “[...], the unions are greedy and bad”

In this case, yes.

Una, in this particular example yes, the demands, versus the skill set requires, the companies operating profits and inflation over the time period were extortionate.
Much like the previous example of bricklayers a militant Union, making unreasonable demands, will in the long run lead to the loss of these jobs as technology advances

If the technology was there there would be no workers regardless of how they act, let’s not be naive.

@Una – “If the technology was there”

It is there, take your pick of the “fully automated examples”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_mover#Examples

Una – the unions are on huge salaries , and the apple pushers dont deserve a 53% pay rise.

Una is it you or someone from your family that is driving the Luas today….. or is that you Wally Mooney….

It is in the interest of the majority that the tram service in Dublin continue to operate daily and not at an increased price.

Regardless of which side is right or wrong, let’s all show our support to Walley, now known as Una, following their successful gender realignment.

@Una

Quite the opposite.

I strongly believe in the power of a union and of getting a fair deal by collective bargaining but these greedy unskilled muppets have damaged this process for us all.

By siptu taking such a deranged position they have managed to get the vast majority of the general public behind a private multinational company.

Taking into account that they managed this feat at the backend of a recession is just ineptitude of the highest order. Most people would not even thought it possible to get a negotiation this tragically wrong.

As an educated public servant I feel that these drivers have damaged future legitimate negotiations.

They are an embarrassment and deserve to feel the full consequences of their actions.

Wayne,

I was there in the middle of those strikes in the early naughties. The militant BATU Union were an unbelievable mafia. They negotiated silly rates for a few city bricklayers which indeed ultimately led to alternative construction systems being introduced and brick layers getting laid off. That was the happiest day of my career as I waved good-bye to that shower of useless wasters. The Union subsequently crumbled due to the fraud of its own senior Union officials. Tut tut…..!

@ ads20101 Exactly. SIPTU have been trapped in an unwinnable position by the drivers after securing a reasonable offer above expectations and having it rejected. There’s no room for maneuver left so ICTU have essentially had to step in. The LUAS debacle is hurting the credibility of Unions to act where they are genuinely needed. Look at Tesco trying to pull worker’s contracts for worse ones, zero hour contracts, rolling annual contracts (followed by the boot after the second one normally) Jobbridge slavery. There’s a lot that the unions could be doing for Irish workers that is badly needed without wasting time on a small group of transport workers who greatly overvalue themselves.

Find out what happened to coal miners and car workers in Britain, in the mid 70′s when the unions were at the heights of their power. Then find out what the print unions did for the workers in the Wapping dispute. Without multinationals ireland would be back in the 1930′s, dev’s eutopia. Question, to all you WallyNomics enthusiasts out the….. which of the world’s Marxist countries would you pick as a model for Ireland?

Una, it is the capilalist system that invented, developed, financed, invested in, and installed the trams. The Irish taxpayer contracted private companies to lay the rails. The drivers contribution to the success of the luas is miniscule.

Bah, una seems to write her own posts, unlike our cut’past WallyNomics idiot.

Ahh, a public servant, Una, that explains a lot. Out of interest, have you ever worked in the private sector.?…. I would hazard a guess … no.

Luas divers already get paid double what they do in the UK. https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/planning/jobprofiles/Pages/TramDriver.aspx Greed greed greed! Like true capitalists, they want their snouts in the trough.

Una, it is workers, backed by capilalists who invent, develop and produce technology. Out of interest, una, do you have a motor car, a mobile phone, a tv set or a laptop? If YES, you support multinationals.

They were requested to do extra work.

Yeah Una, Only €42K a year for unskilled labour.. The inhumanity of it!

Hi Brian, how long has it been since the monkeys took over your job?

Perhaps having a legal requirement for genuine justification for strike action is in order? Holding national holidays, events, examination periods and general workers to ransom for a 50% pay rise should simply never be possible.

I can get strikes because a few of your co-workers were sacked by text. I can’t get 50% wage increases for no extra work just because you’ve watched one too many L’Oreal ads.

how would you legislate for what is a justified strike and what is not? holding people to ransom is a bit over dramatic, people are being inconvenienced at most

I’m not a fan of unions myself but I don’t think they should be gotten rid off just because of a few greedy luas operators.

Who’s Alex Turner? I may need to consult Google….

Arctic Monkeys

Wednesday is dole day for a lot of people.

Wally is prescient.

He’s trespassing in some show house in a new private housing estate demanding it be given to the Welfare class!

Wally is busy creating money through keyboard strokes

I think Wally is off helping the AAA create jobs.

Wally is using his alter ego today…called Una Murphy

Ahh David, we’re just having a bit of good old fashioned banter here, no need to go over the top! AAA creating jobs? I mean, come on now.

Missing the point made

He’s comparing these idiots in Dublin to the plight of millions slaughtered. He’s a freaking idiot.

What a disgusting comparison – comparing the Holocaust and slaughter of Jews and Gypsies to a bunch of overpaid tram drivers sitting on their cushions pusing a lever , expecting an additional pay rise of 53%.

Shame on you Jonny and Una

Just to clarify paddy, I didn’t write the poem. So I am not comparing any group to any other particular group. Take what you want from the peom, in essence it highlights the need for people from different belief systems, economic and social backgrounds to unite and not to practice the “mé Feiner” mentality seen in Ireland.

Jonny you’re an idiot…. flat out.. The only ones practicing a “me Feiner” policy in this case are the Unions and the drivers.

Tram Operators Jimmy, Not drivers.

“Earn” being the operative word.

Just so we are clear, private companies who mistreat their employees while making millions in profits is your preference for public transport routes, the neo-liberal model wins here on the Journal ,hands down, or thumbs up as it were.

Feel free to provide a source for your claims (regarding Transdev), Una. I’d certainly welcome it.

How are they mistreating their workers Una?

Why cant we pay low skill workers a reasonable amount? Why pay them more for being less capable than other workers?

Jason – Wally from the AAA thinks that “Banksters” are about to hand out nappies to the Luas drivers so that they can work harder . Or maybe the neo-liberals were handing out the nappies . Not sure , but either way they deserve 53% pay rise for the exploitation that they are enduring pushing the apple forward and back.

Why should Transdev lost the contract? What have they done wrong other that run an extremely efficient mode of transport for 90,000 people on a daily basis. They do the job they are contracted to do.
Have used Luas for 12 years and over that period of time only 4 times have I not been able to get a tram due to Tech fault and once during the snow.
Why are people banging on and on about Multi-nationals exploiting workers because in this case Luas drivers are well paid and far from exploited. They have been offered an increase that most people would give there right arm for their employer to offer them. I know of at least three people who would Join transdev as a driver just to get what they are getting now.
.

Always the clown

Walking bread, so what do you consider a reasonable amount? Put another way, what is a reasonable amount to pay for a tram ride?