The fight against DOO goes on. RMT must spread the fight

Posted in OnGuard's blog on ,

Once again On Guard congratulates all RMT members taking strike action today at Northern, as well as on Southern Rail. The resolve to fight for safety on the railways goes on.

Merseyrail
For the first time, this strike is going ahead without Merseyrail workers despite the fact that talks between the RMT and their employers broke down. According to the union press release the company had only been prepared to discuss the terms of the union's surrender rather than anything serious about keeping Guards on trains. However, by the time the talks broke down the deadline had passed to notify Merseyrail of strike action on the 28th.

The fight will go on
Nevertheless, the prospect of a successful fight against DOO on Merseyrail remains in- credibly strong, with a well-established cul- ture of respect for picket lines mean that Drivers don't work on strike days, and few trains run.

Virgin Trains East Coast cave in
Meanwhile, over at Virgin Trains East Coast, RMT had given notice of two days strike action on 28th and 29th of April. However, this has now been called off, with the company saying that they are willing to guarantee a second member of staff on every train carrying out safety critical duties. If just a threat of further industrial action can produce this kind of result in negotiations, it is promising for workers elsewhere.

Spread the fight
Every company is different and every Department for Transport franchise specification is different ... but not that different. The fight for rail safety is the same across all the companies. RMT must spread the fight with the same demands for guarantees of passen- ger safety. Otherwise they will play us off against each other offering different things here and there but all amounting to the same thing.

We are the rock
The government is driving the industry push for DOO and the companies are all chiefly motivated by money. If we fight hard enough, they will have no choice but to go back to the DfT and beg to be let off the hook. The DfT are a hard place - rail workers must be the rock with the TOCs caught in between!
NO DOO! NO DCO! NO COMPROMISE!

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