
3 April 2018
RMT Press Office:
RMT General Secretary, Mick Cash, said;
“Merseyrail wrote to RMT on the 19th of March stating for the first time in this dispute that “We will enter into talks accepting that the outcome may be a second person on every train”. Merseyrail’s previous refusal of this option even being on the table had been the blocking point for any talks taking place for the last ten months.
“The company contacted ACAS that day and later that evening RMT agreed a draft Terms Of Reference with the conciliator, and have stood ready to enter talks since then. Despite two weeks inexplicable delay, talks are now finally set to take place this Thursday chaired by the conciliation service ACAS.
“RMT welcomes this development, and the union will seek to examine all possibilities of how the parties can bring about the realisation of the option to have a second person on every train. To that end we call upon the LCRCA and its Transport Committee to allow Merseyrail Electrics to freely negotiate a settlement of this dispute in line with the wishes of the vast majority of the passengers using the system, who clearly wish to see a second person on all of the new trains.”
ENDS