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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2018 :: RMTnews 7 Train guards are safety-critical staff, vital to ensuring passengers have a safe, secure and accessible railway. • We help passengers in the event of an emergency such as a derailment, evacuation or fire. • We help provide security and assurance, especially for vulnerable passengers. • We help many older and disabled passengers on and off trains and during their journey. • We help provide expert travel advice to improve your journey. The Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling wants to end the help they provide. He has told train companies to remove guards and introduce driver-only operation (DOO). RMT members are fighting these plans and have taken many days strike action and are suffering financial hardship. They need your practical and political help if they are going to win. The disputes are currently on Northern Rail, South Western Railways, GTR Southern and Merseyrail but if the government win these disputes they will want to introduce DOO throughout the rail network. So RMT needs your help even if you are not in an area directly affected by the disputes. • Please donate to one of the RMT dispute funds for either Northern Rail, South Western Railway, GTR Southern or Merseyrail or contribute to the national dispute fund. Please contact RMT at info@rmt.org.uk or call freephone 0800 376 3706 for details of how to make a donation. You can also click on the link on the front page of RMT’s website. • Please contact RMT to invite a speaker to your branch or region or community group. • Write to your MP using the model letter on the website. • Share our film unguarded at http://bit.ly/unguardedrmt • Circulate this appeal in your workplace and communities. the new fleet of trains and therefore is in the best interests of the people of the Liverpool City Region. “We will now complete the detailed work to explore and hopefully identify the affordable funding package needed to gain a final agreement,” he said. Andy Heath, Merseyrail Managing Director said that Merseyrail and its shareholders had given support to the agreement and that it had always been clear that any dispute between with RMT would only be resolved through talks. “This announcement is an acknowledgement of that fact. “The commitment from RMT to continue the suspension of industrial action during this review period will undoubtedly help maintain the continuity of the current phase of ACAS conciliation which will allow us to plan our operational delivery around the major programme of Merseyrail platform modifications and the major events between now and the end of the year. “During this phase of conciliation we will continue our engagement with both the Combined Authority and the RMT as we explore the feasibility and affordability of a solution to keeping a second person on the new trains,” he said . RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that the agreement in principle was an important and significant development in respect of RMT's long running campaign to retain a guaranteed second, safety-critical member of staff on Merseyrail trains. "I want to pay tribute to RMT members for their resilience and solidarity throughout this campaign. "We now await a fully- formed and detailed set of proposals that we can take back to our Executive and our members,” he said. SUPPORT OUR GUARDS RMT is calling on members and branches to donate to RMT dispute funds for either Northern Rail, South Western Railway, GTR Southern, Merseyrail or to the national dispute fund