CWU: 100% solidarity with RMT strikers

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.cwu.org/news/RMT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Our general secretary Dave Ward pledged the full solidarity of the CWU with striking railway guards as hundreds of South West Trains workers began a month of strike action this morning.

The action, called by the RMT union, is aimed at keeping a safety-critical guard on every train across the whole network – something which is, according to RMT Wessex Region Organiser Mick Tosh, “absolutely vital for the safety of the travelling public.”

Strikes will continue right up to Christmas, with the exception of Election day (12th December), and is the latest bout of action in what has been a dispute lasting over two years involving around 800 workers.

Speaking from the RMT picket at Salisbury, Mick reported: “So far this morning, I’ve been visiting picket lines around my region and they’ve been extremely well-attended, with more pickets on duty than we’ve seen before.

“Management wrote to our members last week making various threats, but rather than frightening our members, it’s made them all the more determined to keep up the fight until victory.”

For the union, victory will be a formal guarantee by the company that there will be no loss of guards on our trains and that, critically, there will be no diminution of the guard’s safety role.

“Unless and until that guarantee is forthcoming, our industrial action will continue,” Mick pledged, urging people outside the rail industry not to believe management claims that they have already guaranteed a guard on every train.

“Without proper formal recognition of the guard’s safety-critical role, management will be able to diminish this job and put the safety of the travelling public at risk going forward,” he explained.

In his early-morning message to the RMT, our own general secretary Dave Ward said: “I use South West Railway on an almost daily basis, but I’m proud to not do so for a month in solidarity with striking RMT members.

“They are fighting to keep the guard on the train and everyone at CWU has their back.”

Mick Tosh said that RMT strikers were “very happy to get the support of the CWU – thank you for your backing.

“Support from other unions is massively important to our members and this solidarity is great for our members’ morale.”

Mick added that “it was a disgrace that the courts ruled against the CWU recently and our whole movement needs to unite to win change to the unfair anti-union laws.”

[Woody Guthrie]

Leave them alone Dave, they're doing fine on their own.

[daveyeff]

they never seem to get 'injuncted' for their strikes. they should give us some tips.

[yellowbelly]

they never seem to get 'injuncted' for their strikes. they should give us some tips.

[Celgar]

The main problem with SWT is the contract they obtained with the government when they took over the service. Any financial losses incurred as a result of industrial action are covered by the government. As a result any strike action is utterly ineffective on SWT and a waste of time.

[SpacePhoenix]

The main problem with SWT is the contract they obtained with the government when they took over the service. Any financial losses incurred as a result of industrial action are covered by the government. As a result any strike action is utterly ineffective on SWT and a waste of time.

I read somewhere that SWR are actually required to get rid of guards as part of their franchise agreement

[k979aaa]

The main problem with SWT is the contract they obtained with the government when they took over the service. Any financial losses incurred as a result of industrial action are covered by the government. As a result any strike action is utterly ineffective on SWT and a waste of time.

I read somewhere that SWR are actually required to get rid of guards as part of their franchise agreement

And that would be the thin edge of the wedge ie in time trains would be self controlled and it will not be just trains but planes and HGV's and cars the whole costs savings in term's of labour will be massive. But as yet the safety is still highly in question ie the Boeing 737 max ie diving into the ground how long before a train runs a red light or just will not stop due to cyber attack?

[SpacePhoenix]

The main problem with SWT is the contract they obtained with the government when they took over the service. Any financial losses incurred as a result of industrial action are covered by the government. As a result any strike action is utterly ineffective on SWT and a waste of time.

I read somewhere that SWR are actually required to get rid of guards as part of their franchise agreement

And that would be the thin edge of the wedge ie in time trains would be self controlled and it will not be just trains but planes and HGV's and cars the whole costs savings in term's of labour will be massive. But as yet the safety is still highly in question ie the Boeing 737 max ie diving into the ground how long before a train runs a red light or just will not stop due to cyber attack?

Most of London Underground already uses Automatic Train Operation (ATO) : The whole of the Victoria, Central, Northern and Jubilee Lines. The Circle, Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City and District Lines where they don't share tracks with other routes. The Docklands Light Railway, Glasgow Subway and Thameslink in the core section between St. Pancras and Blackfriars.

My gut feeling is that ATO might well be much more widespread in the UK within the next 10 years

[daveyeff]

can't see ANYONE ever getting on a pilotless plane though.

[Woody Guthrie]

can't see ANYONE ever getting on a pilotless plane though.

They've been sending people up in pilotless 'planes' since the early 60s, that's how they got to the moon.

[daveyeff]

can't see ANYONE ever getting on a pilotless plane though.

They've been sending people up in pilotless 'planes' since the early 60s, that's how they got to the moon.

not a plane full of passengers going on holidays etc they haven't. test flights and moon probes were/have been unmanned.