Fresh wave of strikes brings more disruption
A FURTHER series of strikes by guards in the RMT union was under way across five franchises in the second week of January (as this issue of RAIL went to press).
Union members on South Western Railway, Northern, Merseyrail and Greater Anglia stopped work on Monday January 8, Wednesday (10) and Friday (12), with some services also disrupted on the days in between.
Conductors on Southern Railway were also on strike on January 8. This was the 39th day of action in their dispute, which has now lasted for 20 months.
South Western Railway said it was able to operate 70% of services. Most longer-distance services ran as normal, but SWR trains were cancelled between Southampton and Portsmouth, Southampton and Salisbury, on the line through Camberley, and between Poole and Weymouth. Buses replaced trains on some routes. Services ran on the Isle of Wight for the first time on a strike day.
Southern and South Western both said that some guards who had stopped work during previous strikes turned up for shifts during the latest action, but the RMT called the strike “solidly supported”.
RMT General Secretary Mick Cash had met SWT Managing Director Andy Mellors for talks on January 3. No progress was made.
Talks were also held with Arriva, which runs Northern, but also without any breakthrough.
Northern said it could run 1,350 services on strike days, amounting to a little more than half its normal timetable. Most ran between 0700 and 1900, with few early or late trains.
Deputy Managing Director Richard Allan said: “Northern again offered to guarantee jobs and pay for conductors for the rest of our franchise to 2025. Northern has asked RMT to hold a fresh ballot of conductors to give them a voice, ten months after RMT started its strike action.”
RMT responded that Northern’s plans would result in half a million trains a year running without “the crucial safety guarantee of a
second safety-critical member of staff on board”.
Merseyrail also ran a reduced service, with a break in the middle of the day and no trains on the Kirby, Ellesmere Port or Hunts Cross lines. Managing Director Andy Heath said: “These latest strikes are part of a much bigger picture of UK-wide strikes which, unfortunately, local passengers are falling victim to. RMT is steadfastly refusing all attempts to get round the table.”
Greater Anglia said it was able to run a full timetable with no alterations.
For Southern, Passenger Services Director Angie Doll said: “The RMT’s action is especially regrettable as the leadership announced this strike just hours after we had invited them for talks in a bid to end the dispute.”
Rail Delivery Group Chief Executive Paul Plummer said: “We have made four offers to the RMT to resolve their dispute, but they have rejected every one of them without even putting them to their members for a vote.”
The RDG repeated its view that the strike was not about safety, accessibility or jobs. It said that driver-controlled door operation had been used successfully for 30 years; that there are more safetytrained staff than before; and that all train companies involved in RMT disputes had guaranteed the jobs of guards.
A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: “At Southern Rail, where these changes have already been introduced, there are now more staff dedicated to working on trains than previously.”
But Cash responded: “These disputes are about putting the safety of the travelling public before the profits of the private train companies. Every single effort that RMT has made to reach settlements over safe operation and safe staffing has been kicked back in our faces.”