Southern, Northern and Merseyrail to be hit by another day of action
Members of the RMT union are to hold another 24-hour strike in the run-up to the General Election. It will be held on Tuesday May 30 across three rail operators.
The union is continuing its protests against the role of conductors and the use of driveronly trains on Southern, Northern and Merseyrail. It will be the 32nd strike day on Southern since action began in April 2016, and the third strike on the northern franchises.
Talks were held between the RMT and Southern on May 15. They ended soon after they started, with Southern saying both sides had adjourned “to consider their positions”. The following morning, the company made a revised offer to staff.
The union said it had been told by the company that 8,200 additional services a year would run without an On Board Supervisor on the train. General Secretary Mick Cash said: “That represents a serious safety and accessibility risk, and short of the guarantee of a second safety-qualified member of staff. We have no option but to confirm a further day of strike action.”
Southern runs 2,250 services a day. Andy Bindon, Human Resources Director at parent company Govia Thameslink Railway, said: “We are hugely disappointed. The RMT’s proposals would mean cancelling trains and reducing service levels to our passengers. The RMT is asking us to cancel any train that, in exceptional circumstances, would not have a second member of staff on board.”
Southern says it ran 95% of services during the most recent strike, on April 8.
Separate negotiations continue between the company and the drivers’ union ASLEF. The union’s members rejected a unionsupported deal with the train operator in February, and then narrowly rejected a revised deal in April.
Meanwhile, the RMT union accused Merseyrail and Northern of rejecting attempts to resolve the disputes over driver-controlled trains that are due to come into service in 2020. Neither company currently runs any trains without a guard.
Both operators warn that services will be greatly reduced during the strike, while those trains that do run will be busier than normal.
Merseyrail Managing Director Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde said: “Merseyrail put forward a number of initiatives through a series of working groups. These included having a second member of staff on trains after 2000. The RMT would not talk about these things unless we committed to a second safety-critical person on every single train. In other words, it is not us that turned down a working group, but the RMT. Our region deserves new trains. It should not be a pawn in the RMT’s national game.”
On Northern, the union accused the company of a “flagrant disregard for safety”. It said 15 local authorities across the North opposed the removal of guards, including Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds, York and Newcastle city councils.
Northern Deputy Managing Director Richard Allan said: “The dispute will not be solved by unnecessary strike action, but instead by working with us to deliver the modern trains, services and stations our customers want.”
On April 8, around 2,000 RMT members stopped work across the three franchises. The main focus was on passengers travelling to the Grand National at Aintree, the biggest sporting event of the year on Merseyside.
As this issue of RAIL went to press on May 17, ASLEF announced an overtime ban on Southern regarding DCO.
Nick Brown, Govia Thameslink Railway’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “After over five months of intense negotiations and two peace deals agreed and recommended by the ASLEF executive, we are dismayed the union leadership is taking this action, which is designed to affect as many of our passengers as possible.”