03.11.16
RMT accused of ‘cancelling Christmas’ with new December strikes on Southern
A new set of strikes by the RMT are due to hit Southern passengers over Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day, it was announced today.
The two 48-hr strikes will take place from midnight on 22 December to 23.59 on 24 December, and from the same time between 31 December and 2 January.
They mark the latest industrial action in a bitter dispute over Southern’s plans to expand driver-only operated services, which the RMT claim will threaten jobs and passenger safety.
Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT, said: “Yet again the sheer pig-headedness of the company and the government means that our members are being forced to take further industrial action in a bid to maintain a safe and secure service on Southern Rail.”
He added that the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, should “get out of his bunker” and join in negotiations, saying the government was “the only obstacle” to removing Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) from the Southern contract.
RMT has already carried out a 14-day programme of strikes, with the latest due to take place on 4 and 5 November, followed by further strikes on 22-23 November and 6-8 December.
A Southern spokesperson said: “Not content with causing months of misery, the RMT has now hit a new low and is determined to cancel Christmas for the travelling public. These latest strikes will not just hit families wanting to get home for Christmas but also the shops and businesses for whom Christmas is their busiest time.
“These strikes are spiteful, vindictive and pointless given the majority of conductors have now signed up to the new on-board role. This has never been about safety; it’s purely about the RMT hanging on to outdated working practices and union power.”
Southern passengers have suffered a series of severe disruptions this year due to the strikes, staff shortages, engineering works at London Bridge, and other factors. A recent Transport Select Committee report sharply criticised GTR, RMT and the DfT for contributing to the problems on the franchise.
In particular, it said it had been a mistake to amalgamate Southern with other GTR franchises at a time when the network was undergoing disruption because of the Thameslink programme.
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