Londoners face 27-day Christmas rail strike as union talks break down
Christmas shoppers and commuters face a month of festive travel chaos, after talks over a 27-day strike on one of London’s busiest rail networks broke down.
Negotiations between the Rail and Maritime Transport union (RMT) and South Western Railway collapsed after the operator failed to put forward any proposals that could settle the dispute, according to RMT.
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Drivers and guards will strike from 2 December until the New Year, only stopping for a brief period around the General Election on 12 December and for Christmas Day and Boxing Day, when trains do not run anyway.
The strikes were called earlier this month, when the union accused South Western of failing to give assurances that train guards will be kept on under a new operational model.
The union said every train needs a guard as well as a driver, but added South Western has refused to give it the assurances it wants that this will be the case in the coming years.
RMT said the guard is important to help disabled people onto trains and to help keep passengers safe.
However, South Western said it has promised to keep guards on all its trains.
Negotiations had restarted under the auspices of conciliation service Acas this week, but have ended within days.
Despite the fact members of South Western’s executive team were in the room negotiating with RMT, a source close to the union told City PM South Western’s negotiators were “not the ones making the decisions”, causing a breakdown in communication.
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‘Very disappointing’
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said South Western had “not shown any intention of moving the issues at the heart of the dispute forwards despite verbal assurances in earlier discussions”.
“It has become increasingly clear that they are not interested in reaching a settlement at this time.
“As a result of the company attitude all planned action remains on and the union is committed to ensuring the safest possible method of operation. RMT will remain available for discussions with the company at any time.”
Previous strikes have taken place over shorter periods, but have forced South Western to cut roughly half of its timetabled services. A longer strike could lead to more serious upheaval in the busy pre-Christmas period.
South Western serves on average 600,000 passenger journeys every day, operating from London Waterloo – Britain’s busiest railway station. Trains run to regions such as Surrey and Hampshire, but even go as far as Exeter.
A spokesperson for South Western said: “We’re very disappointed. Despite promising to keep guards on all our trains and promising that they will have a safety critical role, the talks broke down today.
“We believe these promises deliver on what the RMT has been asking for, so these strikes are unnecessary.
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“We remain committed to finding a solution that works for our customers and we remain open to talks if the RMT decides to reconsider its position.
“In the meantime, our focus has to be on planning and delivering a train service for our customers.”