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Martin T   18/07/2016 at 20:26

The RMT is on the backfoot with nowhere to go. DCO (that's DOO plus on-board supervisor(s)) is going to become the norm on all trains that are not currnelty DOO. In fact it's possilbe that some DOO may become DCO to improve the passenger experience and collect more revenue. Passengers have been fed fear stories about safety but there are as many passenger/train interface incidents involcing guards and startion dispatch staff as DOO. As letter in latest RAIL magazine states staff will not be axed but RMT will no longer be able to prevent trains running. This is a serious impact upon RMT's bargaining power and puts them closer to TSSA than Aslef. No wonder the RTM are throwing everything at fighting DCO. It's a terrible pity that the passengers (and therefore the railway itself) have to suffer from the RTM's power war.

Martin T (Corrected)   18/07/2016 at 20:30

Sorry, posting again with typos corrected... The RMT is on the backfoot with nowhere to go. DCO (that's DOO plus on-board supervisor(s)) is going to become the norm on all trains that are not currently DOO. In fact it's possible that some DOO trains may become DCO to improve the passenger experience and collect more revenue. 12-car Class 700s are ideal for DCO. Passengers have been fed scare stories about safety but there are as many passenger/train interface incidents involving guards and station dispatch staff as DOO. As letter in latest RAIL magazine states staff will not be axed but the RMT will no longer be able to prevent trains running. This is a serious impact upon the RMT's bargaining power and puts them closer to TSSA than Aslef. No wonder the RMT are throwing everything at fighting DCO. It's a terrible pity that the passengers (and therefore the railway itself) have to suffer from the RMT's power war.

Neil Palmer   19/07/2016 at 07:35

Mick Cash, what about your "disgraceful and cavalier approach" to the public? You're interfering with thousands of people's jobs and lives all because you know your petulant strikes have nothing to do with safety and everything to do with your ability to blackmail the country as long as you can hold off DOO (which, as stated many times, is NOT Driver Only Operation but simply having the driver operate the doors). As soon as that happens (and the day can't come soon enough) you can call all the petty little strikes you want and the trains will still run without your members. You've been offered a scheduled second member on all services and no loss of pay. The only loss of pay your members are suffering are on days they follow their power hungry leader's call for more useless strikes. RMT members should take the current offer before they lose the opportunity. PS - I never thought the day would come when I thought of Bob Crow as reasonable, but compared to Mick Cash he was a saint.

Nick K   21/07/2016 at 21:06

It appears to me that Mick Cash is trying to protect the "leisure time" that the guards can enjoy between stations by sitting on their seat with no work to do? Take a London Victoria to Brighton train, one hour with four intermediate stops. Say 3 minutes per station at most. 18minutes maximum. Hmmm.