RMT secures major breakthrough and suspends planned action as Merseyrail table new offer that protects the role of the guard
Rail union RMT today suspended all action in the long-running dispute on Merseyrail after the company tabled an offer that guarantees both a guard on the train and the safety-critical role of that guard in the despatch process and ensures the safest possible method by having guards close the train doors at the platform/train interface.
The breakthrough offer comes after nearly three years of political, industrial and public campaigning by the union and after intense negotiations between RMT and the company that ran late into Friday evening.
The Merseyrail proposals have been examined in detail today at a meeting of RMT reps and the union’s National Executive and represent significant movement on the crucial despatch issue that has enabled the union to suspend all action in the current dispute. There is further work to do now around the fine detail but the union is committed in principle to the despatch procedure and to taking that process forwards with a view to getting a final deal over the line.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said:
“Today’s breakthrough in the long-running Merseyrail guards’ dispute has been achieved after nearly three years of hard political, industrial and public campaigning and I want to pay tribute to RMT members who have been prepared to put themselves on the line at significant personal cost to defend safety and accessibility on the railway. The progress that has been achieved has been extraordinary. We have pushed back from the threat of wholesale Driver Only Operation across Merseyrail to not only a guarantee of a guard on every train but a guarantee that that guard will retain a safety-critical role in the despatch process including the most operationally safe method of guards closing the doors at the platform/train interface. That is a significant development that will resonate throughout the rail industry.
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