Double strikes hit Yorkshire’s railways
Two strikes on trains serving Yorkshire and the North have been announced by union RMT.
Virgin East Coast, which runs the main line to London from Leeds and other Yorkshire cities, as well as Arriva Rail North are set to be hit.
RMT confirmed a 24-hour strike on Arriva Rail North in a guards and drivers safety dispute. It said that Arriva had failed to offer any progress in talks last week and RMT accused negotiators of “digging their heels in” over the issue of whether to have a second member of staff on trains.
The union said the company intends to introduce a minimum of 50% driver-controlled operations across the franchise, in a move which they said is “wholly unacceptable”.
RMT members working for Arriva have been told not to book on for any turn of duty between the hours of 00:01 and 23:59 on Fri 28th April 2017.
Strikes have also been announced for Virgin East Coast services. RMT confirmed 48 hours of strike action citing its “disgust” and the “ever-increasing contempt” towards its members.
The dispute is also over the role of the guard on trains, which RMT describes as “safety critical”. The union said Virgin East Coast refuses to guarantee that they will retain the role.
Consultation over widespread on-board changes has been going on for over a year, it said.
RMT declared that Virgin had implemented changes to the system which it called a “chaotic shambles” with untrained staff forced into roles and the whole train crew left “to work it out for themselves”.
RMT’s executive has instructed VTEC members, except those at engineering grade to take 48 hours of strike action by not booking on for any turns of duty scheduled to commence between 00.01 hours on Friday 28 April 2017 and 23.59 hours on Saturday 29th April 2017.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “It is simply appalling that Virgin East Coast have refused to give the most basic assurances on the safety-critical role of the guard on their trains continuing into the future. Instead they have sought to fob us off with meaningless statements that are frankly an insult to the intelligence of our members who are charged with maintaining safety on-board these inter-city trains.
“On top of that chaotic, operational changes have been bulldozed through and there is now an additional threat to stations and travel centre staff that leaves our members on a knife-edge.
“This contemptuous attitude has unleashed a tidal-wave of anger at the grass roots and the action we have agreed to put on is simply a reflection of the disgust and frustration at months of ducking and diving by Virgin/Stagecoach.
“The action is on and the union remains available for meaningful and genuine talks.”
David Horne, managing director for Virgin Trains on the east coast said, “We have worked hard to ensure there are comprehensive contingency plans in place and I want to reassure our customers that our timetable will be almost completely unaffected during this walk-out, as well as during any subsequent strikes by the RMT. Passengers can book and plan their journeys as normal and with confidence.
“With our guarantees that there will be no compulsory redundancies, no impact on safety and a near normal timetable in place during the walk-outs, this pointless strike will cost RMT members pay for no reason, and we urge the union to rejoin us for further discussions.”
