A “frank exchange of views” as Grayling meets unions
SECRETARY of State for Transport Chris Grayling has met leaders of the RMT and ASLEF unions in an attempt to break the deadlock over strikes on Southern Railway, Northern Rail and Merseyrail.
Southern and Gatwick Express drivers and conductors had planned a series of strikes on August 1, 2 and 4. This action, along with an overtime ban by drivers, was suspended to allow the talks to take place.
Southern said that as a result, services returned to normal from July 23. The overtime ban had resulted in one in four services being cancelled each day over the previous three weeks.
RMT General Secretary Mick Cash described the meeting as a “full and frank exchange of views”.
He added: “The Secretary of State has now had an opportunity to get a clear understanding of RMT’s position on Southern Rail and the broader issue of how the extension of Driver Only Operation impacts nationally on other franchises.” Cash had earlier threatened that industrial action could spread to Greater Anglia and South West Trains.
Grayling said he was happy to offer long-term guarantees for jobs in the industry, adding: “There is no threat from a process of modernisation and using new technology in a smart way. Your people are not suddenly going to be out of a job. We are actually going to be recruiting rather than getting rid of people.”
The Secretary of State said he would meet the unions again “if that is helpful”.
Drivers in the ASLEF union had earlier voted against accepting a 24% pay rise, which they said was tied to acceptance of an increase
“It is now accepted that Chris Grayling is directing the Southern dispute, so only he can resolve it. We are asking that he pull back from engineering a Southern-style confrontation across the network, including on South West Trains and Anglia.” Mick Cash, General Secretary, RMT “We need to use technology to reduce time at stations. That inevitably means some people are going to have to change the way they work. They are going to be in slightly different roles, but it doesn’t mean jobs are going.” Chris Grayling, Transport Secretary
in Driver Only Operation. The deal would have entailed a basic pay increase by £12,000 to £60,683 a year for a 35-hour, four-day week.
Some 61.8% of drivers voted in favour of the strikes, with 38.2% against (80.8% of drivers eligible to vote took part in the ballot).
Southern’s parent company Govia Thameslink Railway said: “We absolutely need to modernise in order to increase capacity on this, the most congested part of the UK’s network. That requires modernisation of infrastructure, trains and working practices. The trade unions must join us in that endeavour.”
A Southern driver, who did not wish to be named, told RAIL: “We have turned down an offer that was massively in our own interests to accept. That shows this was never about the money.
“The company portrays this as a bunch of greedy drivers turning down a massive pay rise. What we are actually turning down is a set of strings attached to it that are worse than the previous offers the company has made.
“We’d have to agree to a more or less unlimited increase in driver only operation.”
Rail Minister Paul Maynard told the BBC: “A significant proportion of ASLEF members did not want to take strike action. I am dismayed by the ballot result, as will be most commuters who will get pay rises of only a fraction of what the drivers have been offered.
“The routes have to be modernised. Everyone, including the drivers, has to be involved in that.”