More misery for Northern commuters as RMT confirms strike action

Chaos-enduring commuters in the north of England have even more major disruption to look forward to, as the RMT union ordered staff to walk out over allegations the company wants to remove guards from its trains.

Train operator Northern, owned by Arriva Rail UK which is itself a subsidiary of German state railway Deutsche Bahn, is already under fire this week for cancelling waves of trains in the wake of a controversial timetable overhaul implemented on 20 May.

A group of newspapers in the region synchronised their front pages on Tuesday in a rare show of press solidarity, calling on transport secretary Chris Grayling to sort out the franchise’s failure to operate the timetable in any effective manner.

Now, the RMT has warned that Northern Rail is planning to “shred the safety culture” in the same way they shredded the timetables.

It confirmed that further strike action would be taking place over what it termed as “attacks” on the role of the guard, and the extension of driver-only operation in the name of increased profits. ‎

It instructed all Northern conductor, conductor instructor and train driver members to not book on for any shifts all day on 19 June, 21 June and 23 June.

“We have seen over the past fortnight that Northern is a company which has declared war on its passengers and staff alike,” said RMT general secretary Mick Cash.

“RMT will not stand aside while the threat to axe safety critical guards from Northern services remains central to the company plans.”

Cash said the company had reduced the timetable to “total chaos”, and the union would not allow them to “slash the safety culture to ribbons” in the what he said was a similar fashion.

“It is a tribute to the determination and professionalism of RMT members on Arriva Rail North that they have remained rock solid for over a year now in what is a clear-cut battle to put public safety before private profit.

“German-owned Northern Rail want to run half a million trains a year without a safety critical guard on board in a move that would wreck both safety and access ‎to services and they should listen to their front-line staff and pull back from that plan immediately.”

RMT had previously agreed arrangements in Wales - where the trains are also operated by Arriva - as well as Scotland, which Cash said enshrined the guard guarantee.

“If it's good enough for Wales and Scotland to have safe rail services it should be good enough for the rest of Britain.

“The failure to reach a solution to this dispute to date is solely down to the company and the union remains ready for genuine and meaningful talks.”

Richard Allan, Northern’s deputy managing director, said the operator was working “extremely hard” to stabilise and provide certainty in delivering a reliable train service on parts of its network affected by recent very significant disruption and cancellations.

“We have apologised repeatedly and extensively to customers, are working urgently on our additional customer compensation offer, and our energy and focus is on providing a better service for customers,” Allan explained.

He said the May timetable problems and the latest RMT strike action would not deter the firm from delivering its modernisation plans for customers, which involve £500m of new trains currently under construction, as well as “better stations” and more services by 2020.

“We are still prepared to guarantee jobs and pay reviews for conductors until the end of our franchise in 2025, with the Government guaranteeing jobs beyond that, but both guarantees depend on RMT ending its strike action.”