RMT conductors step up London Midland action with 48-hour strike

Publication Date: March 20 2009

AROUND 100 RMT train conductors working at London Midland depots at Bletchley, Northampton and Watford are to step up their strike action in a dispute over Sunday working, with a 48-hour stoppage starting at a minute after midnight on Sunday March 29.

The conductors, who have already taken action on March 13 and 16, voted overwhelmingly for action last month over attempts by the company to pressure staff into working Sundays.

The second wave of strike action follows the London Midlands’ continued failure to honour a long-standing agreement that former Silverlink staff can opt out of working on Sundays and should receive enhanced payments for working into rest days.

RMT has asked the railways inspectorate to investigate safety breaches the union understands have taken place during strikes, when managers have been intimidated into taking on conductors’ safety critical duties with just three days’ training.

“We have spent eight years looking for a sensible solution to this problem, and our members’ two solid days of strike action should have made it clear to the company that the time has come to sort it out,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

“Unfortunately London Midland has so far refused to budge an inch and we have given the company notice that there will be a 48-hour strike next Sunday and Monday.

“The company is really cutting its nose off to spite its face, because it knows there is no shortage of volunteers willing to work Sundays anyway.

“The union has already asked the railways inspectorate to undertake a thorough investigation of safety breaches we understand have taken place, and we have now forwarded a dossier of further reported incidents.

“We know it takes three months to train a conductor, and the company will convince no-one that managers, some with no on-board experience, can be trained up to do the job adequately in just three days.

“The company should by now have got the message that our members want to see justice done, and instead of spending time and money on futile and reckless attempts to undermine our action, they should get around the table to negotiate an end to it,” Bob Crow said.

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Note to editors: RMT conductors at London Midlands’ Bletchley, Northampton and Watford depots will not book on for shifts that commence between 00:01 on Sunday March 29 and 23:59 on Monday March 30.

The first two 24-hour strikes took place on Friday March 13 and Monday March 16

In ballots at each of the three depots conductors voted by a margin of eight to one for action.

The dispute centres on the company’s attempts to pressure staff into working Sundays and failure to honour a long-standing agreement that former Silverlink staff can opt out of working on Sundays and should receive enhanced payments for working into rest days.

The agreement, signed by Silverlink a decade ago, has never been amended, although the old Silverlink franchise unilaterally imposed a contract on new starters aiming at forcing them to work Sundays, but never tried to enforce it.