DEFENDING MERSEYRAIL GUARDS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2018 :: RMTnews 5 employers has to end if we are to make progress towards a solution that guarantees safe rail travel for all. “RMT is in no doubt that it is the dead hand of the minority Tory government that is interfering in these disputes and that their influence is a factor in preventing the union from reaching negotiated settlements. “RMT is demanding that the blockade on talks is lifted to allow us to negotiate freely with the companies and give us the opportunity to pursue the objective of a guard guarantee that puts British passenger safety before the rank exploitation of our rail network by fare-jacking private companies who are laughing all the way to the bank. “If it’s good enough for Wales and Scotland to put safety first then it’s good enough for the rest of the country,” he said. R MT and Labour Party members lobbied the Merseyrail ‘stakeholders’ reception last month as part of the on-going campaign in defence of guards on Merseyrail trains. RMT members on Merseyrail have been engaged in a long, hard fight to stop lethal, conceived plans to throw guards off Merseyrail trains regardless of the impact on passenger safety. The fallacy that Merseyrail was prepared to enter talks over the safety role of guards has been blown apart by the company’s own letter to staff. In a round-robin to guards, operations director Zoe Hands makes clear not only that Merseyrail’s plan to remove all 207 guards’ jobs was not negotiable, but that even the proposed small number of non- safety critical on-board posts were not guaranteed to be permanent. The letter asserts that the company would not “satisfy the RMT demand of a guaranteed second safety-critical person on every train,” demolishing the notion spun by Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram that talks without pre-conditions were on offer. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that it was about time that senior Labour politicians in the city took a leaf out of the book of the political leaderships in Scotland and Wales who have played key roles in brokering agreements that guarantee a guard on their trains. “Merseyrail ‘stakeholders’ need to stop talking amongst themselves and start listening to the people who know about safety on the railway through their daily experiences – the guards and their colleagues out there at the sharp end. “If Merseyrail won’t engage with their front-line staff then RMT will take the message to their doorstep,” he said. DEFENDING MERSEYRAIL GUARDS Manchester Chester Blackburn