
23 May 2016
RMT:
DOO/DCO – ABELLIO SCOTRAIL
Our Ref BR2/0146
23rd May 2016
TO ALL CONDUCTORS AND CONDUCTOR INSTRUCTORS AT ABELLIO SCOTRAIL
Dear Colleagues,
Regrettably once again I am having to write to you because of the campaign of misinformation and outright lies being spread by Abellio Scotrail. Rather than deal with the matters at the heart of this issue, they are becoming more and more desperate by bombarding you with emails, letters and even posts on the “Yammer” Social media site trying to create confusion and division. They then have the front to claim you are the ones confused! Their despicable campaign is only serving to make clear just how desperate they are to do anything but actually sit down and negotiate.
The Managing Director of the Alliance has repeatedly claimed to be shocked at the fact that we are in dispute and claims members are frustrated and confused about why. I think maybe he is the one confused because the only thing to understand is this question and its simple one word answer.
Question - Have Abellio Scotrail guaranteed no extension of Driver Only Operation for the life of the franchise?
Answer - No
It’s pretty simple and quite logical really.
What needs mentioning is the repeated and despicable attempt to turn this into a Scotland versus London issue. They have made frankly ridiculous statements that we would prevent an agreement in Scotland based on events in a totally separate dispute elsewhere. Such claims simply don’t hold water and is a clear attempt to divide and rule. This dispute is about our defence of the role of Conductors on Abellio Scotrail Services and nothing else. To say otherwise is an outright lie.
You should also be made aware that on 13th May, in a meeting attended by myself and your negotiators, the Managing Director gave explicit assurances that all agreements would be adhered to. Now we have received reports that they are refusing to adhere to leave agreements that have been established since 2006. A meeting was also organised for this Wednesday to discuss the dispute but this has now been mysteriously cancelled with no explanation. It is becoming more and more difficult to give their statements any credibility when they are cancelling meetings and breaching agreements.
In recent correspondence they mention a letter written to Conductors in March outlining their future plans for your grade which would have extended DOO further. You may remember this letter which caused such outrage amongst members and when we met with the MD at the time he explicitly agreed to withdraw it. He must have had a fit of Amnesia as he has been mentioning the letter in his Yammer posts as if no conversation had ever taken place. Again it is becoming increasingly difficult to trust anything Scotrail are saying!
Your role is vital to the safety of the railway as you are trained in emergency procedures, have extensive route and station knowledge, deliver a high standard of service and assist passengers. The company need to stop twisting the facts and trying to hoodwink you. They are clearly scared of a solid yes vote in favour of action and seem to be assuming there will be one. Let’s not disappoint them shall we!
We don’t want members to go on strike unless absolutely necessary and our focus is on trying to negotiate but Abellio Scotrail seem to be doing all they can do prevent this. Ballot papers will be sent out from this Tuesday and I urge you to vote strongly in favour of strike action and industrial action short of a strike. We have to send a clear message to Abellio Scotrail that their games and tricks must stop. We demand urgent talks and an absolute guarantee of no extension of DOO for the life of the franchise.
UNITY IS STRENGTH.
VOTE YES FOR ACTION
NO TO DOO!
Yours sincerely
Mick Cash
General Secretary