NO TO CASUALISATION

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2013 :: RMTnews A well attended train crews and shunting grades conference meeting in Cardiff this year was dominated by issues around self-dispatch of trains, agency staff on the railways and the threats to the industry posed by the McNulty report. Assistant general secretary Steve Hedley described the cuts proposed by McNulty as “hanging over our heads like the sword of Damocles”. Steve also spoke of how the default position of the McNulty report is to introduce Driver Only Operation (DOO) and how this would affect train crew staff and how RMT is the only union to fight its introduction. Mansur Khan, Leeds City branch spoke of how increasingly conductors were being expected to dispatch trains due to a reduction in platform staff and how this was seen by train operating companies as a key cost cutting priority. “It is all about costs and companies want to save money,” he said. In the light of the James Street incident, in which an intoxicated passenger fell to their death from a Merseyrail platform after leaning on a departing train and for which the conductor was subsequently imprisoned, there is a clear safety advantage in employing platform staff. “The James Street incident would not have occurred had there been some platform staff,” Mansur said. Matt Partridge, East Midlands Central branch called on the union to launch a campaign on the issue. Susan Elliott, Wimbledon branch said that the introduction of CCTV to dispatch the trains instead of platform staff was part of the problem. “Due to curved platforms and other obstructions it is sometimes impossible to gain a clear view. “Without platform staff you cannot see the whole platform but, due to pressure of time, conductors are forced to dispatch trains anyway,” she said. RMT assistant general secretary Steve Hedley said that RMT was an all grades union and “it is fantastic to see at a grades conference a resolution coming forward which supports station staff”. Stuart Holt, Central and North Mersey branch said that the union must rail workers about the threat of the McNulty report and the role of the guard. “We need to spread the message to our members and go in to the workplaces, the stations, the depots and the mess rooms. “Without a coordinated campaign the station staff, the catering staff and the guards will be gone and that all that will be left will be the drivers and DOO,” he warned. He proposed that the union should consider a campaign of coordinated strike action in protest at McNulty. Steve Hedley said that “it is only through the efforts of this union that the McNulty recommendations have been kept out so far”. “Nothing actually beats face to face contact explaining these issues,” he said urging delegates to get out into the workplaces to reinforce the message that these cuts will result in jobs being lost over the next three to four years. Billy Kimm, Liverpool 5 said that there was not a resolution going to this year’s annual general meeting about the McNulty report and urged conference not just to pass the motion but to send it forward for discussion to the AGM. Alex Gordon, Bristol said: “this is the key industrial resolution on this agenda” and echoed the sentiment that it should go before the AGM. He called for an “industrial action strategy” to supplement the existing public awareness campaign of the union. Chris Lane, Cardiff Rail called for RMT as an all grades union to “back each other up so we should be making a health and safety case” and for phased industrial action. “Monday the dispatchers could go out, Tuesday the guards could go out, Wednesday the drivers could go out, so that we hit the TOC’s hard,” he said. RMT general secretary Bob Crow told conference how RMT was managing to buck the general trade union trend and NO TO CASUALISATION Train crew and shunting grades reject the growing use of agency staff and the McNulty report 14