Vol. 81/No. 30 August 14, 2017

UK rail workers strike against crew size cuts

LIVERPOOL, England — “I don’t want the guards [conductors] off the trains,” a woman passing by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union Merseyrail picket line in Kirkdale here told strikers July 23. “It’s not safe.”

Merseyrail, Northern Rail, and Southern Rail guards are fighting the introduction of driver-only-operation on passenger trains. Continuing a series of strikes, 207 Merseyrail guards walked out July 8-10 and again on July 23. Some 1,250 RMT guards at Northern Rail also struck July 8-10.

“For Merseytravel this is all about money,” Stuart Holt, RMT Central North Mersey branch secretary, told the Militant on the picket line July 23. “They’re spending £500 million [$650 million] on new trains and they want to claw back £5 million by getting rid of safety-critical guards.” Public transportation company Merseytravel pays Merseyrail to run its service.

“The support we’ve had locally has been really good,” said Holt. “People keep bringing us food and drinks. The guy next door cooked us pizzas, a man stopped by with his burger van and told us to choose whatever we wanted.”

On Northern Rail the company is refusing to talk to the union about anything but “meaningful modernization,” boss lingo for its driver-only plan. “It’s a bit of a stalemate at the moment,” said RMT North-West/Wales regional council secretary Neil Sharples.
— Caroline Bellamy