Thursday 20 September 2018 4:02 pm

RMT announces fresh South Western Railway strikes as train guard row rumbles on

Further strike action is planned on South Western Railway (SWR) in the long-running dispute over the role of guards on trains.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will take fresh industrial action on 5 and 6 October, affecting routes into London Waterloo.

The union has accused the rail company of failing to engage in discussions to resolve the bitter row over driver-only trains, however South Western Railway claims it has offered a framework for talks.

A spokesperson for SWR said: “We are our extremely disappointed that yet again the RMT has decided to disrupt the lives of customers and employees rather than participate in constructive talks to help resolve this matter for their members.

“We have offered a framework for talks which would guarantee the rostering of a second person with safety critical competencies on all our trains, and our plans mean more guards, not fewer.

“We urge the RMT to call off these unnecessary strikes which are hindering, not helping, progress on this issue.”

A total of 88 per cent of union members balloted to strike, which SWR said accounts for around half the number of guards employed by the company.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “The company has continued to fail to provide any offer that comes close to resolving this dispute and their latest attempts at delaying talks has not gone unnoticed."

"It would appear that once again the company were riding their luck in the desperate hope that we would not be successful in another re-ballot. However, our members have stood rock solid and it's down to the company to get out the bunker and get serious talks underway," he added.

“There's a simple solution to ‎this dispute and it means SWR stop playing with words and negotiate the guard guarantee that reflects the best safety practice elsewhere in the industry."