Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), the parent company of Southern Railway, has confirmed it will press ahead with its proposals to modernise its services after the RMT rejected its offer to settle the six-month-old dispute and today’s talks ended without success.
Charles Horton, CEO of GTR, said:-
“I’m deeply disappointed that the RMT leadership have rejected our offer – their counter-proposal didn’t come anywhere near our goals of modernising our train service for the benefit of passengers. All they have offered is a superficial rebadging of the conductors as on-board supervisors in name only.
“What the RMT want to do is retain their power and control by insisting that our trains cannot run under any circumstances without a conductor on board, leading to more delays and cancellations.
“I am incredibly sorry about the months of misery our passengers have suffered. Our aim is to make a significant change to put services back on track and get our passengers where they want, safely and on time.
“We will now press ahead with our plans to modernise services to give customers what they expect and deserve – a train service fit for the 21st century. “
The dispute – key points:-
• GTR and independent safety experts say it is perfectly safe for the driver to have sole responsibility for the operation of a modern train – that is what drivers are trained for and competent to do, and that is how a third of the trains in this country already operate.
• There will be a second person on every single train that has one today – and more still – trained in safety and ready to help passengers with all their needs.
• The RMT senior leaders asked GTR today to roll back improvements already made: GTR already has 80 people in its new on board supervisor roles, working on trains where conductor had never worked before, and over 100 additional services are now operating with the driver in sole charge of the train.
• GTR had a full, fair and comprehensive offer on the table for over two months for the RMT to agree. The offer guaranteed a job until 2021, above-inflation pay rises and guaranteed levels of overtime. GTR improved that offer last Monday by offering a £2,000 payment to all those in the new role in January.
• The union leadership did not put this fresh proposal to conductors to vote on. Instead the RMT rejected that offer before walking into the room today.
• The mandate on which the RMT is now set to strike on again is now over six months old.
There is a legal obligation to serve notice to employees in their existing roles and, at the same time they will be asked to automatically transfer to the new role – if they want a job, they are guaranteed one. In addition, some 40% of Southern’s current population of conductors will be staying in their current roles and a large portion of them have also already volunteered to move into the new on-board role.
On the RMT Union website, Mick Cash, RMT General Secretary said,
“The union is angry and disappointed that a fresh set of proposals put forward by the union today that address both our issues and the company agenda have been rejected out of hand with barely a cursory glance. The travelling public will be rightly angry that the company have kicked back in our faces a chance to resolve this long-running dispute.
“There was a real chance of getting a negotiated solution on track today but Southern have not only slammed the door on that but they have also rejected RMT’s offer to draft in ACAS immediately to try and close the gap and broker a settlement. That is scandalous.
“This week we have seen Southern launch a botched attempt to incite the public against their front line workforce. Today that same company have shown that they have no interest in negotiating with the staff union and are hell-bent on having a punch up with the rail workers who keep the travelling public safe.
“Attempts to bribe and bully the Southern Rail staff with the threat of the sack leave an indelible stain on Britain’s railways. The union now awaits confirmation on exactly what the company propose to do next and we will be taking guidance, and offering our members advice, once we know exactly what Southern’s intentions are.”