Rail Union, RMT, has announced that the planned strike action on the Northern Rail Network has been suspended by them and will no longer take place.
The strike action was because of the ongoing dispute about the role of the guard on trains.
The planned strike action was set to take place on the 21st July 2018, however, Northern and RMT have now agreed to hold talks to resolve the ongoing dispute.
This cancellation now means that the normal Saturday timetable will go ahead and passengers can plan their journeys accordingly.
What did the officials say?
Richard Allan, Deputy Managing Director for Northern, said:
“We are pleased that RMT has agreed to hold talks in a bid to resolve their ongoing dispute and has called off its strike action that was planned for Saturday 21 July, which means that customers can plan their journeys based on a regular Saturday timetable.
“Northern is modernising local rail for customers, with £500m of new trains under construction, better stations and more services by 2020. We want to work with RMT to design and shape the future on-board role for colleagues to help deliver better customer service.”
RMT General Secretary, Mick Cash said:
“RMT's negotiating team has been in talks with Arriva Rail North over the past week in an attempt to seek a resolution to the long-running dispute.
“Reports from RMT representatives and correspondence from the company have set out a process for reconvening talks around proposals to set up a joint working party to consider a “range of options on the deployment of on-board staff, including a specific option of retaining a second safety critical person on board all ARN trains.”
“RMT's National Executive Committee has noted this situation and has stated that these talks must commence this week. Also, the union's NEC has instructed our team to negotiate around the guarantee of a second person on every train and their safety critical responsibilities in the first instance.
“Weekly updates will be given to the RMT NEC on how these talks are progressing.
“As a result of this situation, the NEC has suspended the industrial action which was scheduled to take place on Saturday 21st July 2018 and our members are instructed to work as normal on that date.”
- Visit the RailAdvent news homepage
For the latest railway news - Visit the RailAdvent Shop
For railway related goodies! - Visit LocoStop – Our New Social Network
Come and share your photo's and video's, join the discussion.
Find out what others are sharing - Visit the RMT website
For more information
