FIGHTING DOO

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2019 :: RMTnews 4 Strike action on West Midlands Trains and South Western Railway has been rock solid with pickets out in force at all key locations as the union fights to put the role of the guard and the safety of the travelling public before the profits of the private train operator. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that RMT members were standing rock solid and determined across the two franchises in the fight to put the safety-critical role of the guard at the platform/train interface, and the safety and accessibility of the travelling public, before the profits of train operators looking to play fast and loose on their services. RMT members on WMT are taking strike action every consecutive Saturday while members on SWR are taking 27 days strike action. Parliamentary answers and rail bosses’ reports to investors have revealed that South Western Railway are set to get a tax payer bailout of £86 million for strike action to date and over the coming weeks to cover lost passenger revenue from the strike action in a move that proves that the refusal of the company to agree a settlement was politically motivated. RMT has slammed both the government and SWR for engineering the month-long strike for blatant political purposes. Parliamentary answers have already revealed that the government and the company are in negotiations regarding the bail out for lost revenues. The Secretary of State Grant Shapps has told MPs that the amount was subject to “commercial confidentiality” but South Western Railway bosses have boasted to investors that, “we’re doing a lot of work behind the scenes to work through what we think the impact should be and what we think we’re due”. Mick Cash said that the £86 million tax payer funded government bailout meant that South Western Railway will be paid by the government even when they don’t run trains on strike days, hardly a great incentive to settle. “This is an astonishing political intervention by the government during the general election that deliberately politicises and prolongs this dispute. “The inevitable and serious disruption to services today is wholly down to the company and their refusal to agree to the safest possible means of operation,” he said. Meanwhile RMT members on Northern Rail have voted by nearly 95 per cent in a referendum ballot to press ahead with negotiations with the company aimed at reaching a long-term settlement to the guards' safety dispute that secures cast-iron guarantees on the safest method of operation, assuring passenger safety and accessibility. Mick Cash said that Northern Rail members had given negotiators an overwhelming mandate to press on with talks aimed at securing cast-iron guarantees on the role of the guard and the safest method of operation on the company trains that puts passenger safety and access first. "RMT's objective has been to secure a guarantee of a guard on every train with a safety critical role including at the crucial platform/train interface at the point of despatch. That remains our focus as the talks progress,” he said. FIGHTING DOO Strikes go ahead on West Midlands Trains and South Western Railways against driver-only operation Watford WMT picket Salisbury SWR picket line Crewe WMT picket Waterloo SWR picket line