Greed

I wonder what my employer would think if I put in a claim for a bonus for simply doing my job during the Olympics? I somehow doubt I'll get very far, nor is it something I would expect any boss to cave into, save except the rail bosses...

Telegraph.

Having secured a one-off £500 payment from Network Rail, the RMT union is expecting at least the same from Transport for London.

Bob Crow, RMT's general secretary, made clear the union's position when he appeared before the Greater London Assembly's transport committee.

A similar demand is being made by ASLEF, the union representing the majority of tube drivers.

Network Rail offered RMT and the white collar Transport and Salaried Staffs Association abocve inflation pay deals for the next two years and a £500 bonus for staff working on the Olympics.

"We are looking for the same if not better," Mr Crow told the GLA.

A spokesman for Transport for London said last night that negotiations were still continuing with the unions including over working arrangements for the 2012 games.

Nice work if you can get it. Not that this is a tilt at the ordinary men and women who man the railways, they very often don't get involved in what their union leaders get up to and I'm sure they'll enjoy the bonus. However the cash has to come from somewhere and that will be from the pockets of the rail commuters, the people that the railway staff are supposed to serve. So next time fares go up, part of the reason will be because greedy union bosses having the management over a barrel demanded a bonus for their members to do the same thing they do every other day of the week when the Olympics aren't on.
I can see why the management caved in, it was blackmail pure and simple, a case of "nice Olympics, shame if something like a rail strike were to cripple it"
Be nice if the unions were to think of the ordinary people their members serve for once, wouldn't it?