Longest rail strike in 50 years begins on Southern

 

The longest rail strike in the UK since 1968 began today with the start of a five-day rail strike by conductors on Southern rail services.

At the centre of the dispute is the train operator’s insistence on ‘the flexibility to be able to run a train without a second member of staff on board’. However unions have also accused the Department for Transport of interfering and 'wrecking' the talks.

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Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which runs the franchise that includes Southern services, said the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union had rejected its ‘eight-point compromise plan to settle the dispute’.

RMT union general secretary Mick Cash said: 'It was clear right from the start of these talks that there was no serious intent from Govia Thameslink, to engage in genuine negotiations and that their script was being written from behind the scenes by their government paymasters.

'I have been involved in countless negotiations and have never witnessed a farce like this. The person running this circus wasn’t even in the room and we now know from well placed industry sources that it was Peter Wilkinson – the man who boasted that we was itching for a punch up with the unions. He told Govia to stonewall, reject and wreck the talks process. As they are paid directly by the Government on this contract that is exactly what they have done. It is disgraceful.'

Mr Cash offered to suspend the strikes if Southern agreed to the same deal offered by ScotRail earlier this week, which had led to the union suspending industrial action in a similar dispute north of the border.

This included Scotrail guaranteeing a conductor with ‘full competency’ on every train covered by the agreement and undertaking not to run trains without one.

GTR said its eight-point compromise plan included a commitment that conductors (guards) and staff in the new role of on-board supervisor would retain safety competence while the company and union would ‘agree a list of circumstances whereby a train would continue in service without a second member of traincrew on board, in the interests of the customers’.

In return, the union would ‘accept transfer of door-operation to the driver’.

GTR’s passenger service director, Angie Doll said: ‘We have gone the extra mile with our compromise offer, but the RMT has made it clear they are not prepared to negotiate. They did not want to discuss the role of the on-board supervisor and remain rigidly opposed to evolving the role of on- board staff to focus more on customers.

‘We plan to have just as many services staffed with on-board supervisors as we do with conductors today. We simply want the flexibility to be able to run a train without a second member of staff on board, if they are unavailable so we can get our passengers on their way.

‘To provide assurances that we would do this only when absolutely necessary, we said we’d agree with the RMT a list of binding rules to dictate when this could happen – such as during severe disruption. Their refusal to even discuss this demonstrates their complete unwillingness to compromise.’

Southern plans to run 60% of its normal timetable.

 

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