UK : Southern Railway Seeks Talks In Bid To End Strike
9th August 2016, 11:22
Southern Railway has called for fresh talks to try to resolve a bitter row over the role of conductors, as hundreds of thousands of passengers
endure more travel misery on the second day of strike
The train operator, part of the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) franchise, said it would meet the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union "any time, any place, anywhere" to end the walkout.
The company said one in five conductors worked on Monday, although the union said support for the strike was "solid".
Southern has published details of an eight-point written offer to the RMT that was tabled during talks at the reconciliation service ACAS last week that ended without agreement.
The union will hold a protest outside the Department for Transport on Wednesday amid claims the Government has put a "blockade" on talks to resolve the dispute.
The RMT said it was "within an inch" of reaching an agreement and repeated its claim the Government had "sabotaged" any deal, again naming Department for Transport official Peter Wilkinson as "directing operations from outside".
This has been denied by the department.
The union said a deal was being discussed based on an offer made last week by ScotRail in a similar dispute which led to the suspension of strikes.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "RMT can confirm that we were within an inch of making progress towards boxing off a deal with Southern in ACAS talks on Friday afternoon that was based on the offer from ScotRail, an offer that enabled us to suspend all industrial action in the ScotRail guards dispute.
"We were just getting into the detailed wording when suddenly the plug was pulled and our legs were kicked from under us.
"We have it on good authority that the deal, which would have enabled us to suspend the Southern strike action this week, was sabotaged by the Government with their director of rail, Peter Wilkinson, directing operations from outside the talks."
Mr Wilkinson told a public meeting earlier this year that train drivers who resist changes to their working hours can "get the hell out of my industry".
He said there will be "punch-ups" with drivers when the Government changes their working hours to improve services.
The Campaign for Better Transport and a Southern passenger group, the Association of British Commuters, will also march to the Department for Transport on Wednesday to call on the Government to take urgent action to help resolve the crisis.
GTR chief executive Charles Horton said: "Everyone is sick and tired of this pointless, needless and senseless strike, which is so damaging to people's everyday lives and the South East economy, and causing undue disruption and hardship to customers and employees.
"I urge the RMT to come back to the table to talk, have constructive and productive discussions on the way forward and shake hands on a deal.
"We are prepared to meet them directly or through ACAS any time, any place, anywhere to let common sense prevail and give our customers back their trains and give them the service they expect."
Southern said on Tuesday morning its services continued to run well, with nine out of 10 trains reaching their destinations on time so far.
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