Beleaguered Southern Rail has published details of the services it plans to run if a five-day strike by conductors (guards) goes ahead next week, while it faces up to a wave of further strike action from other unions.
Conductors' strike
Southern’s owner Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union are to hold talks at the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) on Wednesday (3 August) over the company’s plans to change the role of conductors.
Southern ticket offices face closure or shorter opening times
The RMT has announced a strike from Monday to Friday next week.
Southern said that if the strike goes ahead, it expects to run almost 60% of its normal timetable, by using ‘contingency conductors’. This would be two thirds of the controversial reduced timetable it introduced last month.
Many routes will have fewer trains, while some routes have no service at all. Trains on many routes will also start late and finish early.
The company said its ‘revised temporary timetable will resume across the Southern network after the strike concludes’, but has not said when it will resume a normal timetable.
GTR passenger service director Angie Doll said: ‘We are sorry that our passengers once again look set to suffer further disruption because of the RMT. The union must call this action off by Thursday afternoon if we are to avoid having to put in Monday’s strike timetable.’
Ms Doll said the company’s plans to remove conductors’ responsibility for opening and closing train doors would see fewer train cancellations in future.
‘Currently, conductors are tied to specific routes and services, but the new on-board supervisor will be able to go anywhere on our network, significantly reducing the perennial problem of train cancellations due to conductors not being available when they’re delayed by disruption, for example,’ she said.
However, a spokesman for the RMT told Transport Network that GTR’s plans to ‘shuffle resources around the system’ would not solve the problem of a ‘comprehensive shortage of staff’. He suggested that the company would try to prioritise some routes, ‘running some services without conductors’.
Transport Network has approached GTR for a response on this specific issue of staff numbers and flexibility.
Ticket office dispute
Separately, the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) has announced a ballot of its members at Southern stations over the company’s plans to close some ticket offices and reduce opening times at others.
Southern said the ballot ‘over our plans to improve the customer experience…seems not only pointless but ridiculous’.
The RMT has already announced a ballot of its members across the GTR franchise over the issue.
TSSA leader Manuel Cortes said any action in September would be co-ordinated with ‘our sister rail unions to maximise the impact’.
He added: ‘The GTR franchise has let down the travelling public and its staff and we would like to see it stripped off its franchise as soon as possible because it is no longer fit for purpose.’
Gatwick Express timetable
Meanwhile, the union ASLEF has just told GTR it is balloting for industrial action on Southern and Gatwick Express.
The union has made a statement, which reads: 'Ongoing issues in respect of discussions regarding the GTR’s imposition of new rosters to facilitate the introduction of an emergency timetable remain unresolved.
'ASLEF’s executive committee consider that this amounts to a breakdown in industrial relations. Mick Whelan, general secretary, will therefore be giving the head of employee relations for GTR, statutory notice of ASLEF’s intention to ballot driver members employed by GTR Southern & Gatwick Express, for strike action and for action short of a strike.'
In response to this, MsDoll said: 'To call a strike ballot against this timetable now is a cynical and desperate attempt to heap even more misery on passengers especially as we have met with Aslef on two occasions and have a further meeting with them next week on this specific issue.'
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