Junior doctors strike..... Again.

[DaveB]

The drivers only have 2 buttons, one to open the doors, and one to close the doors. It doesn't leave a lot of options on increasing their £60,000/year salaries through striking action.

On the DLR that may be the case, but we don't have automated tube trains yet.

BBC - Future - What does a Tube driver actually do?

Do you really want to pay the people who are responsible for the safety of hundreds of people on each train the equivalent of a shelf stacker in Asda?

[SueEllen]

The drivers only have 2 buttons, one to open the doors, and one to close the doors. It doesn't leave a lot of options on increasing their £60,000/year salaries through striking action.

What buttons and levers they have to drive a tube depends on the line they are on.

[SueEllen]

TBH I get the impression that a lot of it comes down to the odds these days. While the US is completely ****ed up, if you have a problem they will at least do all of the required diagnostic tests.

In the UK you only get diagnostic tests if you hound them forever and you desperately need them. I think it results in many people slipping through the cracks in the system. I for one have to fork out another 200 quid for a private consultation for an ongoing issue the NHS won't help - two GP have said I need a specialist referral but the clinic keeps rejecting their request, because they have checkbox criteria and if you don't meet them word for word it is auto-reject.

So you're often left having to google your symptoms, and work out what might be wrong, because the GP (or the NHS) will be forced to pigeon-hole you.

You'll end up hearing stuff like 'It can't be X because of your age.' or 'It's unlikely so therefore we'll dismiss the possibility'.

In the US they over test just so they won't get sued. However it doesn't mean they do the correct tests.

I've found in a few practices in the UK the more junior the staff member is the more agreeable they are to testing you.
Unfortunately in the case of GPs and nurse practitioners they will get in trouble with one of the partners (even if they diagnose you correctly from the test) for performing the test and spending money. Then once the partner realises they saw you before that person, and you can complain about them they rush to cover their own backs.

[vetran]

On the DLR that may be the case, but we don't have automated tube trains yet.

BBC - Future - What does a Tube driver actually do?

Do you really want to pay the people who are responsible for the safety of hundreds of people on each train the equivalent of a shelf stacker in Asda?

why not Bus driver wages are about the same as a shelf stacker.

[SueEllen]

why not Bus driver wages are about the same as a shelf stacker.

Depends what company the bus driver works for.

Oh goody Piccadilly line drivers are going on strike.....