RAIL UNION RMT began a further two days of strike action on Northern Rail over attacks on the role of the safety-critical guard and the extension of Driver Only Operation in the name of increased profits is well and truly on next week excactly as planned as the company continue to snub union calls for meaningful talks.



RMT members have been instructed not to book on for any shifts that commence between:-

• 0001 Hours and 2359 hours on Monday 26th March 2018

• 0001 Hours and 2359 hours on Thursday 29th March 2018

The union has demanded tripartite talks with the company and the DfT aimed at reaching a solution but has received no positive response to that call.

RMT has repeatedly pointed out that the move by German-owned Arriva Rail North to expand Driver Only Operation will mean nearly half a million trains running annually without a safety critical guard on board. The union has also pointed out that there is nothing in Arriva’s franchise agreement that requires them to axe guards from Northern trains and that the decision is wholly theirs alone.

There is nothing at all stopping Arriva from agreeing similar arrangements with the union to agreements that have been reached with train operators in Wales and Scotland that guarantee the retention of safety-critical guards.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said:

“Every single effort that RMT has made to reach a negotiated settlement with Northern Rail over safe operation and safe staffing has been kicked back in our faces. No one should be in any doubt, this dispute is about putting the safety of the travelling public before the profits of the private train companies.

“It is frankly ludicrous that we have been able to negotiate long-term arrangements in Scotland and Wales that protect the guards and passenger safety but we are being denied the same opportunities with rail companies in England.

“Theresa May and Chris Grayling are happy to stand aside and cheer on overseas rail companies like Arriva that rip-off the British passenger with eye-watering fare increases to subsidise their domestic transport operations while throwing the guards off our trains. If it’s good enough for Wales and Scotland to put safety first then it’s good enough for the rest of the UK.

“RMT remains ready for the talks we have suggested.”

Give it up , it WILL happen.

Looks like the strikes are finally weakening. They've previously walked out on Merseyrail on the same days that Northern Rail have been on strike.

A pointless dispute.

Originally Posted by dav

Looks like the strikes are finally weakening. They've previously walked out on Merseyrail on the same days that Northern Rail have been on strike.

A pointless dispute.

It's not pointless if it makes the Union bosses feel important. I mean let's face it, what is the point of these individuals if it's not to call their members out on strike while they themselves don't suffer. As for the Union members themselves, they're just sheep.

Originally Posted by abbeyroad

It's not pointless if it makes the Union bosses feel important. I mean let's face it, what is the point of these individuals if it's not to call their members out on strike while they themselves don't suffer. As for the Union members themselves, they're just sheep.

Agreed. .... and, to think, they told us dinosaurs were extinct.

If you "experts" had dynamite for brains you wouldn't have enough to blow your wooly hats off.
Keep your stupid comments to the Men Only snooker room at the Con Club.

You only have to look at the brainless clown handed the job of Transport Secretary to know that the Railways are beyond his level of competence. He caused the Southern strikes and kept them going when it could have been settled this is yet another bridge too far for the idiot.

By the way why do you comment about something you know nothing about I wouldn't dream of commenting on the problems of sewage workers.

Originally Posted by Little Londoner

If you "experts" had dynamite for brains you wouldn't have enough to blow your wooly hats off.
Keep your stupid comments to the Men Only snooker room at the Con Club.

You only have to look at the brainless clown handed the job of Transport Secretary to know that the Railways are beyond his level of competence. He caused the Southern strikes and kept them going when it could have been settled this is yet another bridge too far for the idiot.

By the way why do you comment about something you know nothing about I wouldn't dream of commenting on the problems of sewage workers.

After such an incoherent rant coupled with an inability to even spell the word "woolly" correctly I would have thought that you were perfectly well qualified to comment on the subject of sewage.

Originally Posted by Little Londoner

If you "experts" had dynamite for brains you wouldn't have enough to blow your wooly hats off.
Keep your stupid comments to the Men Only snooker room at the Con Club.

You only have to look at the brainless clown handed the job of Transport Secretary to know that the Railways are beyond his level of competence. He caused the Southern strikes and kept them going when it could have been settled this is yet another bridge too far for the idiot.

By the way why do you comment about something you know nothing about I wouldn't dream of commenting on the problems of sewage workers.

Get a grip "Londoner" will you. This taken from "Railway Technology.com"

The dispute has often been played out in the media in a long cycle of ‘he said, she said’. However, DOO as a method of working is nothing new. In fact, since being introduced on the Bedford-St Pancras line in 1982, it has spread to approximately 30% of the UK mainline network, as well as London Underground.

Looking further afield, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada are among the countries where such trains operate. Those in favour of DOO say it is an easier way of working with less disruption for passengers, mainly because trains can be cancelled if a guard or conductor is unavailable at short notice, whereas with DOO a train can depart without a second member of staff.

This is purely the RMT and others stirring it up against the inevitable, you keep coming out with Leftie Claptrap so much its laughable.

Luddites.