The rail franchise and unions must work together - compromising and negotiating is essential14/12/2016 Back in the Summer, I ranted about the dispute between the RMT union and Southern Rail, which has brought chaos, inconvenience & anger to over 300,000 daily commuters. Put simply, the dispute is over who should shut train doors: conductors (RMT's choice) or drivers (Southern Rail's prefered option). It appears over 4 months on, little progress between the company and union has developed, with the latest 48 hour strike ending before another 24 hour strike tomorrow. Drivers have now joined guards in striking, either through pressure or not wanting the extra responsibility. Though talks look set to begin in the new year, I hold out little hope. Both sides seem determined to stick to their track and ideal outcome, with utterly no compromising on the horizon.
Though trade unions have the right to strike whenever they like, for however long they like, the majority of strikes contain a reason and a purpose in order to receive support from workers. For RMT, their reason for striking is safety, believing that drivers will not have the ability to see if all train doors are empty before shutting, potentially endangering a passenger's life. Their purpose is clearly to maintain guards having control over when doors are shut, as they are on the platform to see. When looking at this dispute at face value, the union's concern seems perfectly logical. However, when delving deeper, it appears many countries around the world, such as Sweden, use the one-man operation system and, within in the UK, parts of Eastern, Northern & Western servies using this system. If passengers' safety was at great risk, then surely this system would be tiny or even non-existant? A lack of safety has been rejected by the Rail Safety and Standards Board stating there is ''No increased risk.'' The case for striking, from a safety aspect, has not been made. Some of the union believe the one-man operation system will mean a loss of jobs, and that companies are simply trying to cut costs and spend less in an endless age of austerity. However, employment is rising and the aim is for guards to further their career instead of staying in the low paid job of opening and closing doors, though valuable to some. I feel the system is just rightly modernising, and should be more effective, quicker and efficient. Though it is sad many old fashioned ticket offices have closed, the modernised system of being able purchase a ticket online, on your phone is far more accessible to the modern generation, taking away many excuses of not purchasing a ticket when travelling. If done safely, correctly & in the interests of passengers, I believe the one-man operation system, which has been proven to work well across the world, could be excellent. However, it's not just RMT that have been extreme in their action. Southern Rail have simply not come up with solutions that will suit or help guards for the future. Both sides must come to the negotiating table and agree a solution that will protect rights but make the relevant changes. And this can work. Many disputes between the BMA and Government resulted in strike action and though there are tensions, the majority of strikes seem to have ended with an agreed contract. The RMT must not politise the problem, even if they dislike the Conservatives, as passengers must come first. That being said, the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling MP, hasn't helped matters by threathening to ban train strikes because of the resulting chaos, an extreme impeachment of liberty, which would only fuel anger in all unions. The levels of disruption and grief that hard working passengers have been burdened with day in, day out is shameful. Many are having to take replacement bus servies at unearthly hours, are given false hope by train services that don't exist and have a rotten time. For some, a new career closer to home, simply to avoid the dreaded commute, seems like the only option. Many businesses whose revenue was based on commuters are having to close down due to a lack of arrivals. The situation is at breaking point. All parties involved must put aside differences and work together for the interests of customers and workers.
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