Charles Horton :70 % of the affected staff are ignoring strike calls

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

After the train operator claimed support for strikes collapsed, on the eve of the second anniversary of Southern Railway dispute over the role of guards a furious row broke out.

Charles Horton, chief executive for the franchise holder, GTR mentioned that  now seventy per cent of the staff affected by the disputes come to work on strike days.

The RMT’s general secretary, Mick Cash mentioned that it was not true that their members were working on strike days and he considered it as slur against Southern staff by a management declaring war on passengers and the workforce.

The dispute over ‘driver-controlled operation’ between Southern and RMT is Britain’s longest-running industrial dispute.  In April last year the first strike started and Mick Cash mentioned that time about the dispute which is solely based on the safety of the guards on the Southern trains.

He further mentioned that the company had eyes on the ever-fatter profits and was prepared to axe the guards on some of the most overcrowded and potentially dangerous services in Britain. This was to squeeze every last penny out of their passengers despite the consequences.

RMT members for the train operator in the past two years basically covering south London, Surrey and Sussex have stopped work on 40 days. While many commuters complained that the strikes caused profound disruption for their work and home lives.

Different parts of Britain saw the same issue on train operators including South Western Railway, Northern and Greater Anglia.

It was stated by the Railway Delivery Group (RDG) that more than half of passenger journeys on Britain’s railway are made on trains where the driver controls the doors.

The practice prevails on two other parts of the GTR franchise, Thameslink and the Gatwick Express.

Horton requested RMT union to start running trains for passengers and everyone was eager to see that.

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