28.09.17
RMT escalates row with Greater Anglia with overtime ban
RMT has escalated its action on Greater Anglia by imposing an overtime ban for all of its members who work with the TOC.
Conductors and senior conductor members have been instructed not to undertake any overtime or rest day working between 10 October and 6 November.
This comes in addition to a strike happening on 3 October and 5 October, which coincides with other RMT strikes around the country across Northern, Southern and Merseyrail services.
The union said that the overtime ban is being implemented as a result of “the wholesale and continuing refusal of Greater Anglia to reach a negotiated settlement.”
But the operator has reassured passengers that services will not be affected by the overtime ban imposed by the pesky union.
“We are planning a full service throughout the period of the overtime ban announced by the RMT,” said the company’s service delivery director, Richard Dean. “We owe it to our customers and the wider region to do everything we can to safely provide the service we promise, so that is why we are planning to safely operate a full normal service during any RMT industrial action.
“We are guaranteeing the future of conductors on our trains right through to the end of the franchise in October 2025.
“We have no plans to remove them, in fact when we get our new trains we will be recruiting more conductors. We are keen to talk to the RMT to try and agree a way forward.”
But outspoken general secretary of the RMT Mick Cash argued that the union, once again, had no option but to call the action after no meaningful talks were completed between both parties.
“Greater Anglia have been given every opportunity to give a guarantee on the future role of the guard on their services,” he explained. “They have failed to do so and that left us with no alternative but to move to a ballot in the interests of rail safety.
“This dispute is about guaranteeing the safety of the travelling public pure and simple,” Cash went on. “Our members voted by massive majorities for both strike action and action short of a strike but the company have ignored that and have failed to seize the opportunity to give us the very simple assurances on the future of the guards, and the guarantee of a second safety critical member of staff on current services.
“The union remains available for further talks around the crucial issue of the guard guarantee.”
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