Southern Rail strikes: Peace talks to avoid more walkouts collapse in 40 minutes

Commuters could face more strikes after talks collapsed
Dan Kennedy
Dick Murray13 October 2016

Peace talks to try and prevent yet more strikes on beleaguered Southern Rail collapsed in acrimony after just 40 minutes today.

It came as hundreds of thousands of passengers suffered a second successive day of strike action by guards. There is another walkout ordered for tomorrow, three more successive 24-hour stoppages starting next Tuesday and eight more in November and December.

Train frim boss Charles Horton insisted he had made it “crystal clear” to the union what was being offered. “I cleared my diary to listen to what they had to say,” he said.

The union, hwever, claimed he had requested the meeting but “incredibly they have absolutely nothing new to say – today, last week, last month – which helps us move forward.”

Before the talks Mr Horton and RMT leader Mick Cash had appeared confident they could agree a deal over changes to the role of the guard.

But Mr Cash said: “It became clear right from the outset that Mr Horton is refusing to stick by the assurances he gave to the media yesterday that he can ‘absolutely’ guarantee a second member of staff on all current Southern services.”

The union is demanding a “guarantee” from the company that all trains currently having a guard will, in future under the changes, have two qualified staff on board.

Southern is refusing to give that guarantee saying in “exceptional circumstances” a train will be allowed to operate with only the driver.

Mr Horton said: “Now what the RMT is asking us to do if that second person is not available, is to guarantee we’ll cancel the train. That is simply not an option. Customers will come first, not the union, and we are not allowing them to maintain the power to control when a train is cancelled.”

The rail chief told the BBC Today Programme yesterday that when the changes take place “What it means is we will still have a second safety trained person on board on all trains which have one today.”

The RMT immediately took that as an endorsement of their demands for two people on board at all times.

A later statement from Southern quoted Mr Horton as saying “a second safety trained person (will be) rostered on every train that has one (a guard) today ...”.

Having a staff member “rostered” to work on the train is different from saying a train will definitely have two staff on board, the union said.

When the Evening Standard approached Southern to ask why the Horton quote had been changed his spokesman said he had “meant” to say rostered on the Today Programme.

Mr Cash said: “The RMT is angry and frustrated that a golden opportunity to resolve this dispute has been wrecked because Mr Horton has reneged on commitments he has given through the media. Passengers will rightly share our anger. The programme of industrial action goes ahead with the union remaining committed to genuine and meaningful talks.”

The union says changes to the role of the guard are unsafe and being carried out to save money. The company says they are to improve the service.

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