RMT has announced new strike dates taking place on Arriva Rail North, coming in February 2019.
The reason for the strikes is because of the ongoing dispute over the role of a guard on their trains, and the extension of Driver Only Operation.
This announcement comes as RMT members gear up for the 45th day of strike action tomorrow.
Timetables for tomorrows action can be found here.
All RMT Arriva Rail North Conductor, Conductor Instructor and Train Driver members had already been instructed to take action as follows:
- 00.01 Hours and 23.59 Hours on Saturday 19th January 2019
- 00.01 Hours and 23.59 Hours on Saturday 26th January 2019
The additional dates that RMT members are instructed to not to book on are for any shifts that commence between:-
- 0001 Hours and 2359 Hours on Saturday 2nd February 2019
- 0001 Hours and 2359 Hours on Saturday 9th February 2019
- 0001 Hours and 2359 Hours on Saturday 16th February 2019
What did the officials say?
RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said:
“RMT continues to make every effort to get serious and meaningful talks going with Northern but the company are not interested and would prefer to fire off a barrage of misinformation about both the dispute and their intentions to deflect attention from the impact of their behaviour on the travelling public.
“German-owned Northern have made it perfectly clear in emails to staff that they want to run trains without a safety critical guard on board in a move that would wreck both safety and access to services and they should listen to their front-line staff and pull back from that plan immediately. The bogus “guarantees” that they are trying to spin up to the travelling public are not worth the paper that they are printed on.
“We thank the public for their support and understanding throughout this dispute over rail safety and access and the union remains ready for genuine and serious talks.”
David Brown, Managing Director at Northern, said:
“There is no reason for RMT to continue this needless strike action. The Department for Transport and Transport for the North have guaranteed that all current conductors will continue to work in modernised on-board roles on all trains to provide customer service. This will include helping customers with accessibility, personal security, ticketing and information.
“Customer groups and business groups have supported Northern's call for RMT to take part in an independent inquiry on Northern's plans. This inquiry would be held by ACAS with an independent chair and independent panel and would give all parties the chance to have their say.”
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Northern are still a joke. They need to go. Too many times they are allowing more strikes to happen. Shambles Northern trains are.
NORTHERN NEEDS TO STOP ALLOWING RMT FROM INTRODUCING MORE STRIKES OR PERHAPS NORTHERN SHOULD BE STRIPPED FROM ITS FRANCHISE.
How long will this last. All Northern have done is nothing except allowing more strikes to continue and they are just too weak to fight back. It is an absolute disgrace to a rail franchise in the UK that can not fix the franchise and to cause more misery & anger to passengers who use Northern will probably have to use other ways to commute. Northern should be stripped ASAP.
GET ARRIVA NORTHERN RAIL OFF THE RAILWAY FRANCHISING BECAUSE THEY ARE A DISGRACE. Why would Arriva take over the Northern Franchise and to mess it all up. I hope Arriva loses the bid and allow the government to take charge of taking over the franchise that passengers in Northern England really wants. Forget about new trains that are coming. Northern should expire straight away.
Shades of Red Robbo again, remember him? Leyland shop steward who helped wreck the company through constant strikes.
I can see this dragging on through 2019, the only winners will be National Express, Megabus, and the car dealers.
Well said. The disgraceful use of Xenophobic language is a throw back to the 1970s. If the RMT had their way we would reinstate a man with a red flag. Many railways operate without guards perfectly safely, and the DLR goes one better and does not have a driver.
Xenophobic language? As much as I disagree with the RMT over the matter of these strikes, I find it absolutely pathetic that you managed to find *something* to get offended by on behalf of another racial group. Grow up and focus on the matter at hand (guards and strikes), not calling anyone out for false racism.
Time to ban strikes in essential industries