SOLID STRIKE ACTION

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2018 :: RMTnews 4 S trike action went ahead last month in separate disputes with train operating companies across Britain over attacks on the role of the safety-critical guard and the extension of driver-only operation (DOO) in the name of increased profits. Members on Northern, Merseyrail, Greater Anglia, South Western Railways and Island Line took action. The union met with both Northern Rail and South Western Railways in a last ditch effort to broker a solution. Northern refused to enter into meaningful talks as they lumped on the ludicrous pre- condition that the union must bend to their demand to run nearly half a million trains a year DOO. South Western Railway reneged on a suggested guarantee of a second safety- critical person on trains in public statements which turned out to be no guarantee at all but merely PR spin for their real objective which is to have a free hand to run as many trains as they decide with just a driver on board, regardless of the risks to the travelling public. Merseyrail, Greater Anglia and Southern Rail refused to engage in further talks. The lack of action by Southern may have been the3 fact that the government has been caught bunging Southern Rail £22 million of taxpayers’ money. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that the government had at last been forced to admit that it had bunged the basket- case Southern Rail millions to keep the dispute over safety running. "This extreme case of corporate welfare has taken place because the ludicrous and rigged GTR contract, condemned by the National Audit Office, means the tax payer and not the company carry the revenue risk. "It is no surprise that Southern Rail have made no effort to negotiate a solution to the guards' safety dispute when Chris Grayling is paying them out of the public purse to keep it running,” he said. He said that the union had made every effort to reach negotiated settlements in the separate disputes over safe operation and safe staffing. “No one should be in any doubt these disputes are about putting the safety of the travelling public before the profits of the private train companies “It is frankly ludicrous that we have been able to negotiate long-term arrangements in Scotland and Wales that protect the guards and passenger safety but we are being denied the same opportunities with rail companies in England. “This suspension of normal industrial relations by the SOLID STRIKE ACTION Skipton Leeds Ipswitch Fratton