SIGNAL WORKERS IN SCOTLAND TAKE SOLID STRIKE ACTION

RMTnews :: march 2007 :: www.rmt.org.uk 4 O ne person was killed when a 100mph train hit a car at a level crossing in Norfolk earlier this month. The 0622 One Railway service travelling from Norwich to Colchester collided with a car at the crossing at Swainsthorpe. The train did not derail and there were no on-board injuries. The crossing was an automatic half-barrier type controlled by lights. It was the scene of a crash in November 2005 when a car driver was killed by a passenger train. The incident came one day after the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) declared that level crossings represent the biggest risk of fatal train accidents. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that level crossings were a relic from a bygone age and must be phased out. However, he pointed out that no RMT members currently operating level crossings would suffer job losses as a result. “We have longstanding agreements with Network Rail dating back to British Rail that protect members’ jobs, pay and conditions in the event of displacements. “These would kick into force in the event of a level-crossing being closed,” he said. Engineers underneath a train at work after Tavish Scott MSP Transport Minister officially opened a new maintenance facility at First ScotRail’s Haymarket Depot in Edinburgh last month. R MT supervisory and signalling members in Scotland took solid 48-hour strike action earlier this month over the failure to implement a 35-hour week and a number of other issues. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the strike went ahead following the collapse of talks with Network Rail. “These issues have been resolved elsewhere, but in Scotland Network Rail managers appear to want to make a name for themselves,” he said. The dispute centres on a failure to honour the spirit and intention of the signallers’ 35- hour week agreement, abuse of rostering agreements and the carrying out of rule-book testing in signal boxes, despite a commitment not to. As a result, the union is also in the process of balloting all signal workers for strike action over safety issues and the failure to implement a 35-hour week. Signallers in Scotland voted overwhelmingly for strike action in a ballot prompted by a flood of complaints that Network Rail is willfully misinterpreting last year’s agreement in Scotland. Signallers have been prevented from ‘banking’ additional hours as rest days. The widespread abuse of rostering agreements and the continued insistence by management in some locations on carrying out COGNISCO safety testing in signal boxes, despite promises that the practice would stop, has also led to serious industrial relations problems. “We are always ready to discuss issues with Network Rail, but agreements are there to be observed by both sides, and these abuses have to stop,” Bob Crow said. SIGNAL WORKERS IN SCOTLAND TAKE SOLID STRIKE ACTION ONE DEAD IN LEVEL CROSSING CRASH ScotRail opens new maintenance facility