By Eric King-
Strikes on Northern rail routes scheduled for October has been announced as part of a long-running dispute set to inconvenience passengers this winter. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Arriva Rail North are due to walk out on October 6, 13 and 20, as part of a wrangle over the role of guards on trains.
The dispute arises as Northern Railway was accused of failing to give assurances on the guarantee of guards on its services. Talks between the RMT and Northern Railway ended without agreement on Wednesday, leading to the disruptive strikes. The news, first released by the PRESS ASSOCIATION, comes after the Ministry of Transport announced plans to overhaul the Transport system with a massive injection of cash earlier today. Plans to hold the strikes are a huge disappointment, but demonstrate the level of discontent between RMT and Northern Railway.
PROMISE
Independent chair Keith Williams, the former British Airways chief executive and deputy chairman of John Lewis Partnership yesterday promised to build on the government’s franchising strategy, bringing track and train closer together to minimize disruption and improve accountability. Innovation to improve services and raise value for money for passengers was one of the key features promised for a transformed railway network. The government promised to publish a white paper on the review’s recommendations, but the full manifestation of the reforms are not expected to be in full flow until 2020.
Two years time is a long way away for Northern Railway employees who need to see action now, and will be taking action to express their disappointment and frustrations.
Union general secretary Mick Cash said: “The company has continued to fail to provide any offer that comes close to resolving this dispute and their latest attempts at delaying talks has not gone unnoticed. “Before the result of the re-ballot, I sent a letter to the company asking them to make the necessary arrangements for a meeting to take place.