CROSSWORD EDITORIAL

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: april bulletin 1 2020 :: RMTnews 15 ACROSS 1 Ruin (10) 8 Outdoor (4-3) 9 Affect with wonder (5) 10 Meaningless (5) 11 Building (7) 12 Conflict (6) 14 Part of the eye (6) 16 Lacking special distinction (7) 17 Deception (5) 19 Money (5) 20 Dawn (7) 21 Adjustment (10) DOWN 1 Untrained (13) 2 Frightening (5) 3 Small storeroom (6) 4 Avoiding (7) 5 Explanation (13) 6 Discharge (4) 7 What the Spanish need back (6) 12 Steady (6) 13 Erupt suddenly (5,2) 15 Japanese female entertainer (6) 17 Spore-producing plants Last month’s solution... CROSSWORD calling for the development of a clear strategy that puts ticket offices at the front and centre of the campaign as the ‘human interface’ point of sale and called for a list of action points to be agreed. Mike Sargent said; “At the recent Staff our Stations campaign meeting that was held in London, it was heartening to see that there were lots of ticket office attendees. “Ticket offices are the beating hearts of the railway station environment so this campaign applies enormously to our grades. “This resolution talks about a lack of strategy but since it was written some new materials have come out but this is not ticket office related, nor has any guidance has been received from head office regarding ticket offices when more is needed. “We request that the National Executive Committee report back regularly on this campaign and we would request that a sub-committee be created. “Furthermore, we demand that generic publicity materials, such as banners and badges are created, but solely for ticket offices, and distributed to ticket offices. “There should be monthly features in the RMT News, and regional workshops should be held to develop strategy and a plan of action so that a comprehensive report can be put back before this conference in a years time,” he said, Dean Battel from Hastings branch also said that the union was awaiting the Williams Rail review on the future of the railway. “in my region we have ten ticket offices and from the figures we’ve seen it looks like six station offices will be shut with others on reduced hours, this is why we must support this campaign,” he said. Andy Budds from Leeds urged conference to support saying; “Ticket offices are the first line of contact and what we’ve learnt from the guards dispute is that people value human contact. “If you make a mistake on an app you’re stuck, whereas if you see a human they can resolve this issue but this doesn’t make the company money and makes it difficult to justify the role. “We need to call the employer out when they are not covering absences and shutting ticket offices and I would urge us to develop a way to get this message across,” he said. A number of regional Staff Our Stations meeting had been organised but due to the COVID- 19 outbreak these had to be cancelled until further notice.