Rail union, RMT, has today confirmed more industrial action will take place regarding South Western Railway in a Guards’ safety dispute.
The industrial action will take place from Friday 16th February 2018, with the possibility of train services being disrupted, cancelled, or alterations.
The industrial action will be about the dispute over the safety, the role of the guard on trains and the rolling out of Driver Only Operation (DOO).
We will bring you the revised timetables and updates as we get them.
Who is taking part?
Below is information on who is taking part in this dispute (taken from the RMT website)
- All Guards, Commercial Guards and Train Driver Members
- Not to undertake any rest day working from 00:01 hours on Friday 16th February 2018 until 23:59 hours on Monday 19th February 2018
- Guard and Commercial Guard Members
- From 00:01 hours on Friday 16th February 2018 until 23:59 hours on Monday 19th February 2018, all Guards and Commercial Guard members are instructed to take industrial action by refusing to work in accordance with key sections of the Guards Restructuring Agreement.
What did the officials say?
RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said “It is frankly disgraceful that South Western Railway point-blank refuse to engage with the union in meaningful talks over their plans to run trains without a safety-critical guard on board across this franchise.
“It is the intransigent attitude of the company which has forced us to put on this latest phase of industrial action in an effort to force them to see sense and to drives them back to the negotiating table for genuine and meaningful talks.
“We know that this action will have a serious impact on services and the responsibility for the disruption caused will be wholly down to South Western Railway and their pig-headed attitude. It is time for the company to get out of the bunker and start talking.”
A spokesman for South Western Railway said: “We will do everything we can to minimise the inconvenience to our passengers from this unnecessary action.”
- Visit the RMT website
For more information
This article was updated at 11:11 am on the 5th February 2018 to clarify certain points
Responses