GNER wants to put in barriers at Kings Cross and other stations on the East Coast route, massively cutting commission earned by on-board ticket-checking staff. Ticket Examiners could lose up to a third of their income, and the gap between lower-paid grades and drivers will keep growing.
The company refused to make any compensatory rise in basic pay. Nor are they offering new technology money for the introduction of ticket machines to replace excess books, even though other employers have done (eg. Avantix machines on Virgin).
This comes hot on the heels of a woeful 3-year pay deal, which nearly came in without union members even voting on it.
RMT is meant to be against 'partnership' agreements. The one in place on GNER is showing why they are so bad for workers!
Late last year, conductors forced Central Trains to pay up for bank holidays after a big vote for strike action.
We wonder whether, as the new, merged franchise approaches, National Express big cheeses have told their management minions at Central to calm down a bit.
Dissatisfaction amongst Central Trains drivers about staffing levels had already led to an ASLEF "barbecue day" (ironic name, all things considered). One December Sunday, management found to their horror that hardly anyone volunteered to drive - on Central Trains, Sundays are still outside the normal working week.
Platform and station staff, and guards, on South Eastern Trains, are voting for strikes on closely-linked disputes.
SET was re-privatised at the start of April after a couple of years in the public sector when it ran a much better service. But hey - let's not allow the passengers' right to a decent train service get in the way of the privateers' 'right' to suck out millions in profit.
SET now plan to impose a new system of train dispatch, and changes to arrangements for barrier staffing at some locations.
Off The Rails hopes that by the time you read this, RMT members will have delivered a massive Yes vote to strike. If the employer doesn't back down, the union must use its mandate to call strike action, with both sets of workers going out together.
Network Rail abandoned its plan to transfer maintenance functions to Merseyrail ... RMT successfully secured continuing employment for a “manager” facing redundancy on Wessex Trains ... EWS still refuses to recognise RMT reps, no doubt in preparation for renewed attacks on groundstaff ...