Mailwatch(ed) Forum

They earn good money already because they've always had good unions.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 1:15 pm Because as things stand the most visibly successful unions are those consisting of people who are already earning good money, like train drivers and doctors.

Groups that attract the ire of our lovely media and its thick readers, especially train drivers.

I also see that Sharon Graham is to face a leadership challenge.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... -reform-uk

Boiler wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 1:59 pm

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 1:15 pm Because as things stand the most visibly successful unions are those consisting of people who are already earning good money, like train drivers and doctors.

Groups that attract the ire of our lovely media and its thick readers, especially train drivers.

I also see that Sharon Graham is to face a leadership challenge.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... -reform-uk

Simon Dubbins, who started out as a print worker and has been an international director with the union since 2008

A relative of 80s print union leader Tony Dubbins? Like Sharon Graham, he found himself representing workers wedded to a previous century’s technology. Best of luck to Simon’s campaign. Who’s going to be in Sharon’s corner, Maurice Glasman and Jonathan Hinder?

Funny... I just looked him up to see if they are related and it led me to a recent article by Tony Dubbins in the Morning Star about the Wapping dispute.

It was interesting to note reading that article that "the plumbers", as we disparagingly referred to the EETPU back then, were as much of a bunch of scabs there as they were at Auntie.

Sharon Graham deserves to be out on her ear, having got elected on a "no politicking" platform, and wound up trying to kick out Keir Starmer and veto Ed Milliband as Chancellor. Having said that, she's about right for a union with so many Kipper members.

davidjay wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 1:36 pm They earn good money already because they've always had good unions.

Or they do jobs with industrial muscle? Hard to see the Lexit goons who run rail unions as particularly smart operators.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2026 1:10 pm Doubtless the problem now is “cuts”, which nowadays means something not rising as fast as it might have done.

The growth figures were decent till Trump launched a war with Iran. You’d think at some point there might be some acceptance that Reeves has got the macro pretty much right. But idiot backbenchers look to have bounced her out of her job.

There's now a black hole in the public finances.

A strictly hypothetical poll, here, which apparently shows a “Burnham Bounce” for Labour of about 5%.

https://bmgresearch.com/news/the-burnh ... ing-again/

I’m still not convinced.