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Letter from Dyan Crowther, Chief Operating Office at Govia Thameslink Railway, following the announcement of further lengthy strike on Southern's services:
Good Morning,
As you may already be aware, yesterday afternoon the RMT announced a further lengthy strike from 8th – 12th August on Southern services. At the start of this week we spoke to Mick Cash, RMT General Secretary, asking him to enter into further discussions with us. Instead of responding positively to this approach, his trade union has decided to take this unnecessary action.
It is completely unacceptable our passengers are being made to suffer five consecutive days of disruption on top of the huge inconvenience they have been put through. The changes we are making are essential to modernise the railway in order to cope with the growing passenger demands, improve performance and provide better customer service. It is the right thing to do for our passengers and the right thing to do for our staff.
Our plans mean that onboard staff will be more visible and better able to provide assistance – we can be more flexible and ensure that on board staff are on the routes where passengers need them most. Furthermore, in times of disruption, trains are less likely to be cancelled if a conductor is not available for any reason. It is also important to note that trains doors operated solely by drivers is nothing new in the rail industry. It is a recognised safe way of operation that has been in operation for more than 25 years. We are offering all our onboard staff a job, as valued members of our future operation, with no reduction in salary.
We value the hard work of our staff, who are already working tirelessly to deliver the service in challenging circumstances. The proposed strike next month is once again putting our staff in a very difficult position and we therefore urge unions to reconsider their position.
We will deploy a similar communications plan to the one we followed during previous strikes in order to ensure customers are aware of the impact the strike will have on their journey. We are working on our contingency plans and we will confirm the details of the contingency and communications plans to you over the coming days.
I would like to reiterate that we are doing everything we can to avert this industrial action and urge the RMT to come back and talk to us.
Finally, I would like to apologise in advance for the disruption this strike will have on your constituents if it goes ahead. I will keep in touch over the coming days to update you on the latest developments.
Yours sincerely
Dyan Crowther
Chief Operating Officer
Govia Thameslink Railway