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Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 3:04 am
by lutonlagerlout
nobody liked him but he didnt care !
what a man for the RMT members
pay rise every year ,pension increases every year
lived in a council house on £145k a year!
as a man I liked his ethos,
amazing how boris and cameron are all lauding him now
RIP Bob
LLL
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 8:16 am
by henpecked
Great guy, will be sadly missed. Those are big boots to fill. I doubt they'll find anyone with bigger balls.
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 10:40 am
by Tony McC
It annoys me how a man like Bob Crow who battled aggressively to better the lot of the workers was constantly denigrated and vilified by the right-wing press, while the bosses who take home hugely undeserved pay packets, pension pots that need to be carried on a HGV, and completely unwarranted golden hello/goodbyes, are regarded as some sort of saviours of the national economy.
Certainly in the 70s when I was just entering the jobs market, the unions wielded far too much power and wielded it badly, but it's swung too far the other way now. Zero-hours contracts are modern slavery - how did we ever allow the bosses to talk us into accepting such one-sided, unfair T&Cs?
We need more leaders like the late Bob, leaders who think of improving the lot of the workers rather than lining their own already overly-deep pockets.
And 52 is no age at all....I know, because I'm 52 and only just coming into my prime!
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 8:46 pm
by lutonlagerlout
I read somewhere that the only working class people in london earning a good screw are members of the RMT union
tube drivers start on 48k per year
what big business did to british industry is appalling and their treatment of workers is even worse
I was on a union site in 1989 we got £70 a day plus £2 attendance money
there were hot showers ,a drying room,a canteen
we had to be given an hour on fridays to cash our checks
free boots,hard hats etc
and it cost us £2 a week union subs
I was taking home £271 a week for 5 days but you have to remember that drink was only £1.30 a pint then
there's not many brickies getting £950 a week take home now is there?
which in terms of housing,beer and fuel is what it equates to
this is what happens when the workers dont have a voice
Sean knows all about this
LLL 
Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 9:25 am
by Tony McC
In 1989, on a non-union job, we were offered 3.50 quid/hr (28 quid/day) daywork rate, with no premium for tradesmen, just the one flat rate for tradesmen and labourers.
We refused and insisted on price-work only. It was the only way to make a living wage.
Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 5:14 pm
by lutonlagerlout
crikey the hoddies were getting £55 a shift on the same job at luton airport
if you worked saturday you got £80 and a ton for sunday
but the money was that good that nobody bothered,on the ale all weekend
fridays because we got an extra hour to cash the cheque we effectively had 1.5 hour lunch break, straight in the flying club for a few then back
if anyone got sacked we all downed tools and the subbie had to re-employ him
obviously this was the good side of it but it felt good at the time
LLL
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:58 am
by Tony McC
On the 28 quid/day job, which ran for 15 months from '89 to '90, we were eventually obliged to spend Fridays making the site safe for the weekend. It was a city centre job and a city centre with a habit of erupting at weekend chucking-out time, whereupon the tanked-up underdressed bell-ends determined to prove their hardness would light upon the setts and cobbles and blocks we were laying during the week.
After we spurned the 28 quid deal, we struck a new arrangement where the amount earned Mon-Thurs while working on a price was divided by 4 and we were paid that sum for the tidying-up and fence erection work on Friday. So, you worked your knackers off for 4 days, got a good wage slated, and then be paid handsomely for loafing about 10am to 2pm on Friday, in the ale-house for 3pm at the latest, and effectively being paid to sup Marstons' XB until home time. 
