Please find a letter below, from CEO, Charles Horton, regarding the on-going strike action:
Good afternoon,
We are now in the second day of the RMT's five day strike action on Southern services, and I wanted to personally inform you on the steps being taken by my team to end this wholly unnecessary and unjustified strike action.
Yesterday, GTR wrote to Mick Cash, General Secretary of the RMT, to invite the union to fresh talks to discuss the compromise offer we made at Acas last week. We have made it clear to the RMT that we are prepared to meet them directly, or through ACAS, any time, any place, anywhere for a meaningful and productive discussion about our proposed way forward. We hope they will take up our offer as soon as possible, for the sake of all involved.
The letter sent to Mick Cash yesterday from GTR’s Director of Human Resources, Andy Bindon, is attached. The key points of the offer we made last week, and what these assurances mean, are outlined below:
The offer
- Southern will guarantee that every train currently operated with a conductor will continue to have either a traditional conductor or a second member of on board staff diagrammed/rostered.
- This guarantees a second member of staff on every train that has one today, for the life of the GTR franchise.
- Southern guarantee that traditional conductors will retain current competence and will guarantee that the second member of on board staff will be trained to a ‘safety competent’ level including track safety training, train evacuation, traction competence and full commercial route knowledge (excluding train dispatch).
- This guarantees the vital safety role of the on-board staff, including training in safety.
- Southern will propose a list of exceptional circumstances, to be agreed with RMT, whereby a train can continue in service without a second member of on board staff, for the benefit of customers.
- This is vital to achieve the main objective of the change – reducing train delays and cancellations. It means that in times of service disruption, a train can run without a conductor in circumstances when otherwise it would be cancelled. The criteria for this would be agreed with RMT.
- These proposals, including the above guarantees, are dependent upon agreement that services with a second member of on board staff (rather than a traditional conductor) will have the driver in full control of train dispatch. Agreement for this to be implemented will be ratified at local level.
- This ensures best-use of the new train technology. As the independent Rail Safety & Standards Board have concluded, on modern trains it is safe, and may in fact be safer, for drivers to operate the doors rather than conductors.
- Collective bargaining rights for the new OBS role, ensuring that this group will have a voice within the organisation as well as full negotiation rights.
- This protects the interests of conductors in their new role and locks-in traditional collective bargaining rights
- A joint review of the OBS role after 12 months of operation, to look at role development, training and future career development.
- This ensures the role will be properly reviewed and, if necessary, changed, after 12 months of operation. The review will be joint with RMT, giving them a key role.
- A guaranteed minimum level of voluntary overtime for all OBSs, the detail of which would be agreed with the RMT.
- This guarantees and protects the conductors from any loss of income in the new role.
- A guarantee to retain the OBS role at the levels already guaranteed, beyond 2021, should GTR retain the franchise.
- This guarantees that the retention of the role will be a key part of GTR’s bid in the franchise renewal process.
This comprehensive and incredibly fair offer is on top of existing commitments made of; no compulsory redundancies, no reduction in salary, a guaranteed above-inflation pay-rise for 2 years, additional salary paid to staff working voluntary overtime and no compulsory location moves. We believe that this offer represents a significant compromise on our position and we urge the RMT to come back to the table and talk.
Our latest press statement is available online at: http://www.southernrailway.com/southern/news/
You'll also be interested to know that one-in-five conductors turned up to work yesterday, wanting to be part of the solution and helping our customers on their journeys. The strike timetable is running as planned today and the latest PPM data for Southern this morning was 91.28%. We continue to speak directly to our staff about the changes we are seeking to make, to ensure they have and understand the facts.
This is clearly a difficult time for all involved, especially our customers and staff, and I want to apologise for the impact this industrial action is having on them and your constituents. We will keep you updated as the situation develops, but please don’t hesitate to contact me should you have any queries.
Yours sincerely,
Charles Horton