Talks on Wednesday between Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which runs Southern services, and the the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union broke up abruptly over GTR’s insistence that it will, in certain circumstances, seek to run trains without a second member of staff.
The face to face talks between GTR chief executive Charles Horton and RMT general secretary Mick Cash appear to have been prompted by a statement by Mr Horton on Tuesday that he would ‘absolutely’ guarantee a second member of staff on all trains that currently have a conductor.
The RMT had seized on this on the basis that it was the rail operator’s refusal to give such a guarantee that led to the breakdown of talks last week. However, even before Wednesday’s talks, Mr Horton had claimed that Mr Cash was ‘deliberately distorting’ what he had said.
After the latest talks broke down, Mr Cash said: ‘RMT entered talks with Charles Horton from Southern Rail this morning in good faith and with every intention of trying to reach an agreement.
’However, it became clear right from the outset that Mr Horton is refusing to stick by the assurances he gave to the media yesterday that he can “absolutely” guarantee a second member of staff on all current Southern services with a conductor.
‘This dispute isn’t about who open and closes the doors, it is about that absolute guarantee of a second safety-competent member of staff on these Southern services.’
Mr Horton said: ‘What the RMT is asking us to do if that second person is not available, is to guarantee we’ll cancel the train. That is simply not an option. Customers will come first, not the union, and we are not allowing them to maintain the power to control when a train is cancelled.’
GTR said: ‘An example of when we might run without a second person would be at times of disruption if an on-board supervisor was delayed on an inbound train and couldn’t get to his next train on time.’
However, it is unclear whether the company might also seek to run a train without a second member of staff in circumstances where it does not have enough staff to fill its rosters.
The company has previously blamed mass cancellations on 'issues with train crew availability' such as 'unprecedented levels of train crew sickness' and 'unwillingness among others to work overtime'.
Wednesday’s talks took place on the second day of a 72-hour strike by Southern conductors who are members of the RMT, which had already announced further two and three-day strikes.
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