17 November 2017
RMT Press Office:
Strike action goes ahead on Arriva Cross Country on Sunday as management wreck talks.
RAIL UNION RMT confirmed this morning that strike action by train managers and senior conductors on Arriva Cross Country in a dispute over abuse of rostering and Sunday working goes ahead as planned on Sunday after management wrecked talks this week aimed at reaching a solution. The action will impact on services from Plymouth to Aberdeen and points in between on Britain’s most wide-ranging rail operation.
The schedule of strike action remains as follows due to the management actions.
Cross Country Train Manager members are instructed not to book on for any shifts that commence between:-
• 00.01 hours and 23.59 hours on Sunday 19th November 2017
• 00.01 hours and 23.59 hours on Sunday 26th November 2017
• 00.01 hours on Saturday 9th December 2017 and 23.59 hours on Sunday 10th December 2017
• 00.01 hours and 23.59 hours on Sunday 24th December 2017
• 00.01 hours and 23.59 hours on Sunday 31st December 2017
RMT today warned passengers that the company are trying to recruit a scab army of managers, ill-equipped and without the skills and training needed to fulfil the safety-critical role of the guard, and paid a bounty of £250 with luxury hotel accommodation thrown in. Drivers are now being strong-armed by the company with the imposition of compulsory overtime.
RMT has warned that these bogus train managers are acting outside of their substantive role and poorly trained, incapable of carrying out the full role and responsibility of a fully competent and safety critical guard on what will be the start of the busiest periods in the run up to Christmas and the respective German Markets. Birmingham New Street alone will see a huge increase in passenger numbers in the coming weeks visiting Birmingham.
RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said:
“It is disgraceful that the management at Arriva effectively sabotaged talks on Wednesday that were making progress towards a settlement to this dispute and were instead focussed on dishing out cash bungs to a dangerous scab army of under-cooked management recruits to try and break the action.
“Our members are standing up for the principles of a decent work life balance and against the abuse of rostering and Sunday working by a management that is out of control.
“The action goes ahead and the disruption to services will be solely down to Arriva managements intransigence.”
ENDS
Unity House
Tel: 020 7387 4771
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