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Joke is on passengers says RMT as 1st April marks two years of failure and broken promises on German owned Northern Rail Franchise

 

RMT members to hold week of protest at stations across the north over threats to safety, service and accessibility

 

1st April 2018 marks the two-year anniversary of the beginning of the Northern Rail franchise run by German State rail owned Arriva Rail North.

 

Instead of the much herald promises of improvement in services the franchise has been beset by problems. At the same time it’s German state rail owners stand to profit while passengers suffer.

 

RMT is warning passenger services, safety and accessibly are set to get even worse if Northern get away with their plans to introduce Driver Only Operation and remove guards from trains. RMT members are to hold a week of protest at stations across the north starting on 3rd April to highlight the dangers of driver only trains.

 

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said,

 

“It’s bad enough that Northern passengers have not seen any sign of the promised improvements but it is unforgivable that Northern are about to make matters worse by getting rid of guards who do so much to assist passenger service, safety and accessibility.

 

“What is unbelievable is that because Northern is owned by German State railways the German railway will profit and get better on the back of these cuts to northern services and jobs.  That’s no April fool, its true and the joke is well and truly on passengers.

 

“RMT members will be protesting at stations across the north this week to highlight our concerns about the attack on jobs and safety by the German state owned northern franchise and we will be calling on the Secretary of State for Transport to stop supporting these plans and reverse them.”

 

 

 

Notes to editors

 

RMT will be leafleting stations across the Northern Network from Tuesday 3rd April 2018 to Friday 6th April 2018.

 

TUESDAY – 3rd APRIL 2018

 

Outside Barrow in Furness Railway Station -05.15 to 07.15

Outside Carlisle Citadel Railway Station – 07.00 to 09.00

Outside Windermere Railway Station – 11.00 to 13.00

Outside Whitehaven Railway Station – 17.00 to 19.00

 

To be arranged – Workington and possibly Ulverston

 

WEDNESDAY – 4th APRIL 2018

 

Outside Buxton Railway Station -06.45 to 08.30

Outside Manchester Victoria Station – 07.30 to 09.30

Outside Wigan Wallgate Railway Station – 07.30 to 09.30

Outside Liverpool Lime Street Station – 16.00 to 18.30

 

To be arranged – Blackburn, Manchester Piccadilly (Blackpool North to be arranged later)

 

 

 

THURSDAY – 5th APRIL 2018

 

*Outside Leeds City Railway Station – 06.30 to 09.30

*Outside Wakefield Kirkgate Railway Station – 07.30 to 09.30

Outside Sheffield Railway Station – 16.00 to 18.00

 

To be arranged – Doncaster, York, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Skipton and Hull.

 

FRIDAY – 6th APRIL 2018

 

Outside Newcastle Central Station – 08.00 – 09.00

Outside Hexham Railway Station – 16.30 – 18.30

 

To be arranged – Middlesbrough

 

 

 

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

 

DRIVER ONLY OPERATION (DOO)

 

Further to my Circular No IR/252/16 dated the 24th August 2016 with regards to the above matter and where I informed you of the union’s national campaign to defend the role of the Guard and our fight against the further spread of Driver Only Operation. I can now advise you that I have received the following resolution from our Newcastle Rail & Catering Branch:

 

“This Branch commends all RMT members who have taken solid and determined industrial action in defence of the roles and responsibilities of the Guard. Their sacrifice has been for the safety of the travelling public and for ensuring the rail network is accessible to all especially the disabled and the vulnerable.

 

In the face of overwhelming opposition from a vicious Tory Government who are determined to implement the McNulty report and crush our union and propose to ban us from taking legitimate industrial action by refusing our right to withdraw our labour. They have been aided by the mainstream media who have trivialised and miss reported and out right lied over the facts of this dispute as well as the Train Operating Companies that have bullied, bribed and lied to our members. We stand head and shoulders about the entire British trade union movement in our resoluteness to fight attacks on all railway workers and must continue to do so.

 

However a victory for DOO at any train operating company poses a grave threat to the guard’s grade nationally. Unity with other rail unions can no longer be relied upon in the struggle against DOO the RMT must be prepared to fight this battle alone.

 

Therefore this branch calls on the RMT National Executive Committee to continue to fight industrially and politically against DOO. There should be no selling out our members or sweet heart deals done behind closed doors. The fight for the role and responsibilities of the guard and a safe and accessible railway for all must continue.”

 

The matter has been considered by the union’s National Executive Committee and their decision is as follows:

 

“This NEC welcomes and completely agrees with the resolution rom our Newcastle Rail & Catering Branch.

 

 

Our campaign to stop the introduction and extension of DOO is one of the most important in the history of our union.

 

We currently have separate industrial disputes with 5 TOCs on this issue.  These different disputes have their own dynamics, and we are dealing with them all separately.

 

We are, however, also following union policy decided by our 2013 AGM decision, which stated:

 

‘This Conference …condemns the McNulty report as an attack on all railway workers, especially on the role of the guard…. We therefore call on the General Secretary to consider coordinated strike action where McNulty threatens job losses within any train operating companies.’

 

We reaffirmed this in our decision 1309 of 9^th August 2017, which said:

 

‘This National Executive Committee reiterates that all industrial action in defence of the role of the guard will continue to remain coordinated where practically possible, and this National Executive Committee remains committed to consulting the wider membership on strike dates whilst adopting the same strategy of coordinating action against train-operators intent on driving through the introduction and extension of DOO’

 

In order to make our campaign more effective, we instruct the General Secretary to:-

 

• Seek donations from Regional Councils, branches, and members to our national dispute fund, to support our members taking strike action in these disputes.
• Write to the wider Labour and Trade Union movement for support in our campaign, including financial support.
• Report back to us with further proposals for raising funds for the national dispute fund, including the possibility of a levy on Regional Councils and branches.
• Report back to us with proposals for a one-off solidarity payment in January to those who take strike action in these disputes.

 

We further instruct the General Secretary to arrange for the Lead Officers, and Guards Company Council Chairs and Secretaries of Merseyrail, Arriva Rail North, Greater Anglia, Southern, and South Western Railway to meet with himself, the Senior Assistant General Secretary,  and the NEC as soon as practicable.

 

We note that a new Train Crew newsletter is being produced, which will of course be about the campaign against DOO. We instruct the General Secretary to distribute this to Regional Councils, branches, and to all traincrew members.

 

All Regional Councils and branches to be advised. All traincrew members to be informed by email.”

 

Our position has always been that the Guard should be in full operational control of the doors and has a vital safety role for passengers and the railway in general. The union continues to gain public support through intense leafleting, holding successful public meetings and educating the general public and politicians about the safety role of the Guard and the importance of retaining these staff on passenger rail services.

General Secretary Mick Cash said;

 

“The huge hike in fares confirmed last week is another kick in the teeth for passengers who ‎already fork out colossal sums to travel on rammed out,unreliable trains while the private operators are laughing all the way to the bank. Continue reading “Cut fares not guards”

RMT WARNS OF CO-ORDINATED GOVERNMENT PLANS TO AXE RAIL STAFF, COMPROMISE SAFETY AND RUN TRAINS ON THE CHEAP

Rail union RMT warned today of a co-ordinated Government plan to axe thousands of rail jobs including all drivers from Britain’s trains.

The Rail Capability Plan, just issued with Government and RSSB support, sets out proposals to further compromise and dilute the current safety regime and run ‘Autonomous’ trains on the cheap.

The plan states:

“Given the pace of development in Information and Communications Technology a completely new operational concept and train control and regulation capability can be developed over the short to medium term”.

The Department for Transport have launched a new innovation competition with up to £9 million to support UK businesses in developing technological solutions for the railway.

Inviting applications that “create high-value, low-cost railway innovations, which increase the value of rail services to passengers while driving down operational expense”  it goes on to say “Innovations in this theme need not be constrained by existing railway standards” but will “help deliver optimal staffing for a high-value, low-cost railway”.

 

One of the themes (No 8) is called Intelligent Trains and says “Intelligent trains will reduce the reliance on complex and expensive rail infrastructure and control systems and through automation transition the role of railway staff from direct control and operation to supervision”

 

It goes on to say “Intelligent trains will be aware of themselves and their surroundings, knowing where they need to be and when, and able to automatically adjust journeys to meet demand”

 

Four milestone’s including Driverless trains predict a bold future of Autonomous Trains capable of regulating their own passage through the network and is laid out clearly for everyone who works in the industry on page 27 of the plan:

 

Milestone A

Semi-automatic operation

Milestone B

Driverless operation

Milestone C

Unattended operations

Milestone D

Autonomous trains

 

Mick Cash RMT General Secretary said:

 

“The cat is well and truly out of the bag now. The Government are working hand in glove with the private train operators and the RSSB on a long-term plan for rail in this country that would axe thousands of jobs across the industry, hammer down on safety and run services on the cheap in the name of fatter profits – the majority of which will be shipped abroad by overseas state rail companies to subsidise their own domestic transport operations.

 

“The rail capability plan sounds innocuous enough but is, in fact, a blueprint for automation with the long-term objective of a faceless railway where passengers are left to fend for themselves without any human contact whatsoever. It is scandalous that this whole drive towards the faceless railway is being smuggled through without any serious scrutiny whatsoever.

 

“RMT is blowing the whistle on this disaster in the making and will continue to fight for a properly staffed and resourced railway where public safety comes before private profit.”