Although the national rail strikes have been cancelled, there will be a large scale tube strike this coming Thursday 10th November.
(c) TfL
Transport for London (TfL) is warning that a very limited or no service is expected on the entire London Underground. London Overground will run a full service, however, it may be subject to last minute changes, including non-stopping at some stations shared with London Underground.
All other services on the TfL network, including buses, are expected to run but may be extremely busy.
Glynn Barton, TfL’s Interim Chief Operating Officer, said: ”It’s highly disappointing that the RMT union is planning strike action on the London Underground and Overground on 10 November. We are encouraging them to withdraw this disruptive action and continue to engage with us and Arriva Rail London, operator of the London Overground, to avoid disruption to our customers.”
TfL is required as part of the government funding settlement to review the pension scheme that it operates, and has put forward three proposals for consideration.
One would see no change, one would see the TfL pension transferred into the Local Government Pension Scheme, which would see staff contributions rise to match LGPS rates, and the other is to move to a future service CARE pension scheme based on the Principle Civil Service Pension Scheme, which would mean pensions are based on the average salary during a worker’s career rather than their final salary.
Both changes would also see retirement ages rise to match the UK standard age of retirement — from 60 to 65 years old.
The government is expected to respond to the proposals in March 2023, and it’s only then that both TfL and the unions will know what, and indeed, if any changes would be proposed to the pensions.
In the meantime, there will be an all-day strike by RMT members on Thursday 10th November in protest against the proposals.
“You’ll reach State Pension age on January 2036.
Your State Pension age is 67 years.”
Clearly I’m not in the RMT…
BB
CORRECTION: – CLearly you are not a TfL employee ….
There was also a time when final salary pensions were the norm, until various worms & scrooges got at them
I really hope they cancel this strike. I need to go to Euston station on Thursday but will have to get elizabeth line and a bus. What a joke!
Really.. so you having to take a different route is a joke but changing our pension isn’t?
I will be striking because we have to at least try and stop these unnecessary changes.
Most people including myself have had there pension age moved to 65.In the job I do it is illegal for us to strike. Even for health and safety. Driverless trains are the answer DLR take note. You don’t get scores of accidents on driverless networks there are many. Stop these greedy unions holding London to ransom. I don’t earn 60000 a year. Despite doing one of the most stressfull jobs there is. Driving a train that virtually drives it self is not stressfull. When it does go wrong it’s the emergency services who are paid way less who have to sort the mess out.
So where are the billions it will cost to institute driverless trains going to come from and are you prepared to put up with mass disruption when lines are closed for a very long time whilst it is installed?
The former Mayor campaigned in 2008 that he would put in driverless trains – to stop the unions holding “London to ransom” – on the underground. But he did nothing practical to bring it in.
The DfT has demanded TFL bring it proposals for driverless trains as part of the post pandemic funding deal.
But TFL will tell it that in theory it’s possible but it would cost billions that TfL doesn’t have to install.
DfT doesn’t have Billions to spare so it’s not going to happen.
I agree with you John, this people need a leçon, introduce the driverless and stop this crazy situation, destroy the economy in this moment is not good Idea,
My empathy with the TfL employees who face a change in their pensions.
However, the majority of the rest of us won’t be pensionable until 67, many of us don’t earn as much as the TfL employees planning on striking, and final salary pension schemes are an anachronism.
Current pension arrangements are unaffordable, not least of all as average life expectancy has increased from 68 in 1950 to an anticipated 85 in 2050.
You don’t have to be an actuary to appreciate employees have to either contribute more, or pensioners receive less, or a combination of both.
Those of us in the private sector look on with disbelief, and sorry no sympathy.
You failed to mention de decent option:
The rich should contribute more.
Thank you dubidubno,
The pension sector is riddled with problems, particularly pension deficits. Asking other people, “the rich” as you call them, to contribute to your personal pension problem is delegating responsibility. Who are these rich? Asset wealthy who bought a council house in the 1980s? Or highly salaried?The Average weekly earnings in GB is now £617 (about £32,000 a year), source ONS. Anyone earning more than the average might be considered rich. Research by Trust for London and Loughborough University recommends a minimum London weighting of £9,600 in inner London and £6,549 in outer London, source Mayor of London. So anyone earning over £42,000 a year in central London might reasonably be considered rich; curiously much like many (although not all) of those striking, maybe the rich strikers could set an example and in your words “contribute more”.
Most Tfl.gov.uk workers do not earn £60,000 +. The hours are usually very anti social. The personal restrictions on staff private lives go way beyond expectations in private companies. The continuous low levels of abuse are soul destroying, especially after the pandemic, when people seem to have forgotten how to behave with other humans. It seems to be the expectation that its OK to take a (in real terms) reduction in both wages and pensions, whilst the upper layers of companies pay the bosses 10% – 20% increase in pay and bonuses. Stand up for what you have got and stop supplementing bosses pay. It’s been proven the hard way that trickle down economics do not work. The rich get much richer, whilst the rest of us get poorer. Fight back or face losing more than money, but also the loss of even more public services like the NHS and affordable transport. Fill in the tax loopholes for corporations and wealthy. Make Amazon, Starbucks etc. pay their fair share of taxes. Stop subsidising the oil, bank’s and arm’s dealers.
Why are we subdising companies wage rates, by having to pay housing benefits, tax credit’s etc to more than 50% of the population. Just pay a decent wage, or watch society drift into a further decline and the consequences of that.
Just to put the record staright regarding my coments on Driverless trains and the unions.
This is how I see the current situation with all these unions that are taking strick action. People are going to have to wake up to the fact that most of us are going to take a financial hit of some kind. It might be pensions it might be higher bills ect. The world is in a financial crisi as a result of covid and the actions of a Russian President.
Most of us are going to have to accept that we are going to have a decline in our standard of living. I have worked for a public sector department for 30 years. My union signed a no strike agrement with the goverment in return for a pay review board.Every pay rise I have had since 1992 has been below the rate of inflation as a direct result of this.We carn’t even take action over health and safty concerns. If we do we get a court injunction ordering us back to work or we could be Sacked or taken to court and our unions funds seized.
Try working under those conditions. Inflation is a fact of life.Some of us need to wake up and deal with it. Stop complaining about the super rich there is no point someone has to be at the top of the tree.
I just worry about the Money in my pocket and my family and freinds. I don’t care what anyone else has got. Good luck to them.
Sorry, no sympathy at all. You are constantly disrupting our lives when most of us don’t even earn near your wage.
If you do not like your job, just go and change like most people do. Stop crying about it like a child and be an adult. So tired of this honestly…
I think some of this information is factually incorrect. The LGPS is now a career average scheme ( has been since 2014,I think) any contributions before then are final salary. Retirement age is 67, though at the emempmoyer’s discretion you can retire early from 55 but with a very reduced pension. Not an option for the majority
who aren’t on Principal Officer grades. I earn 25k a year after working in local.gov for 27 years.Your pension is part of your contract of employment and terms and conditions that you sign up to.Workers have every right to oppose changes. I’ve been on strike over changes to the LPGPS back in the early 2000.What never gets mentioned is that employers have no obligation to pay striking workers, so of course they don’t and union strike pay is very limited. I never got any when I was on strike. Even The Guardian doesn’t report this and I am going to be cancelling my sub.
The world doesn’t owe a living try being self employed and you’ll find out, but then most of the RMT employed wouldn’t have the guts or ability to live in the private sector so you’ll have put up with it otherwise become self employed
I worked in the private sector and now work for TfL, my retirement age for a state pension is 68. Why should I work to 68 when I’m currently supporting pensions for people who retired at 60, bought cheap housing that has rocketed in price and are likely off their own final salary scheme and also receiving a state pension? I’ll keep my current terms and conditions thanks. If you are so upset by it come and work for us 🙂
As always good luck to the workers and to the power of organised labour against the bosses to defend your working conditions and pension arrangements.
Sorry, but changes MUST be made. It’s not viable to carry on with overly-generous pensions in this day and age. Employees at TfL need to realise they must contribute more, and align the retirement age with everybody else.
Yes, some roles are ‘stressful’, but since when was that unique to TfL? They act like they’re in a war zone. Most station staff I see are basically standing around chatting, and even trying to get their assistance is like you’re asking them to go above and beyond.
Time to change. If they don’t like it, find a new job (but that would require leaving their bubble).
Do you know that the tfl employees are having 3 months of paid holiday?🙂
Those complaining- please get past your own nose. The inconvenience of missing one day’s tube travel in comparison to pension issues, intransigent greedy managers, historical industrial relations, common decency & fairness, union defence. Good luck 🤞 to the strikers
Two things about stand out. Strikes and pensions most others would die for. Seems to be a hallmark of people living off the public purse. Non public service employees need to be able to get to work to pay that taxes needed to fund those striking!