RMT MARKS YEAR-LONG SOUTHERN SAFETY FIGHT

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2017 :: RMTnews 4 R MT held a national protest outside Parliament last month to mark the one-year anniversary of industrial action against the extension of Driver- Only Operation (DOO) on Southern Rail. Addressing the rally inside Parliament that followed, RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that heroic members working for Southern Rail had taken 31 days of industrial action against the threat to rail safety from DOO. “Those RMT members have put their passengers and their local communities first and they are a credit to the entire trade union movement. “It is right that rail workers from across the country should have a chance to come together with our Southern members to mark the first anniversary of the dispute. “DOO is a national threat and this protest provides the opportunity for members from across Britain to make their voices heard and for us to show the politicians and media that our fight for passenger safety will continue. “Last month the transport select committee exposed the ongoing shambles that is Southern Rail and the blind eye that has been turned by the government to gross mismanagement of this franchise on an industrial scale. “The select committee called on the government to engage in talks with the company and the union but that call has been ignored. “This protest shows not only RMT’s opposition to Southern- GTR’s profit-motivated drive to get rid of guards on trains but also to hear from those who will be most affected by the proposed cuts, including pensioners and the disabled,” he said. RMT MARKS YEAR-LONG SOUTHERN SAFETY FIGHT