Southern reveals 8-point offer to settle strike and urges fresh talks with RMT

One-in-five conductors turned up for work on first strike day

Management of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), the parent company of Southern Trains, today invited the RMT to fresh talks "any time, any place, anywhere" to end the strike action which is causing travel misery for hundreds of thousands of commuters this week.

GTR also reveal that one-in-five rostered conductors defied RMT pressure and attended work on Monday, the first day of the strike. This follows RMT claims that support from their members was‘rock solid’.

GTR's renewed bid to end what it calls "this pointless, needless and senseless" industrial action comes as it publishes full details of an 8-point written offer to the RMT which was tabled last Friday during talks at ACAS and which GTR reaffirmed in a letter emailed to Mick Cash, RMT General Secretary yesterday. (Full letter below)

The key points of the offer are:

Guarantees that every train currently operated with a conductor will continue to have either a traditional conductor or a second member of staff on-board;
• Guarantees traditional conductors will retain their current competencies and second members of on-board will be trained to safety-competent standards including track safety training, evacuation, traction and full route knowledge (excluding train dispatch) which will pass to the driver;
• Joint agreement by both Southern and RMT on the driver having full control of train dispatch and joint agreement by both parties to a proposed list of exceptional circumstances whereby a train can run without a second member of staff on-board;
• Guarantees to retain the On-board Supervisor role (OBS) beyond 2021, should GTR retain the franchise and minimum levels of voluntary overtime for all OBS staff, details of which would be agreed with the RMT
• A joint review in 12 months time of the new OBS role to include role development, training and career progression;
• Collective bargaining rights for OBS staff.

GTR Chief Executive Charles Horton commented:

"This comprehensive and incredibly fair offer is on top of existing commitments made on 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.

"Everyone is sick and tired of this pointless, needless and senseless strike, which is so damaging to people's everyday lives and the South-east economy, and causing undue disruption and hardship to customers and employees. I urge the RMT to come back to the table to talk, have constructive and productive discussions on the way forward and shake hands on a deal. We are prepared to meet them directly or through ACAS any time, any place, anywhere to let common sense prevail and give our customers back their trains and give them the service they expect.

“Finally I’d like to thank the one-in-five conductors who turned up to work yesterday. They have demonstrated their commitment to serving our passengers in the best way possible. The RMT claimed support for the strike was ‘rock solid’ when the reality is large numbers of conductors now recognise that this is a pointless strike”

What the deal means in detail:

The offer	What it means
1.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.
2.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.
3.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.
4.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 board have concluded, on modern trains it is safe, and may in fact be safer, for drivers to operate the doors rather than conductors.
5.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
6.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.
7.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.
8.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.

Note to Editors: Below is the full letter sent by GTR on 8th August 2016 to Mick Cash, General Secretary of the RMT

ENDS

 
Full copy of letter to RMT, 8 August

8 August 2016

Dear Mick,

Role of the Conductor – Southern (GTR)

I am writing in response to your letter to Charles Horton, CEO, of 5 August, which you also issued as a press release, prior to talks resuming at ACAS that afternoon.

After intensive talks, and arranging (at your request on 4 August) to have our safety experts present at ACAS on 5 August to deal with safety points you wanted to clarify on our proposals, it was disappointing that you instead sought to effectively close the talks down by demanding a 'yes' or 'no' answer to us agreeing to replicate an agreement you have made with Scotrail.

Subsequent to talks ending, you and other union officials have again made statements about this dispute being about ‘safety’; so it is even more surprising that you did not attempt to raise any specific issues with our experts, who attended ACAS specifically for this reason.

I explained why it was not possible for us to replicate the Scotrail deal but, in the interests of trying to end this dispute, we produced a similar agreement which we could have accepted and which, at the very least, should have enabled you to cancel this unnecessary strike action. That offer is set out again below:

1. 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.
2. 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).
3. 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.
4. 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 offer should not be considered in relation to a direct comparison with the words you have agreed with Scotrail, but the very different outcomes we wish to achieve in terms of modernisation, performance improvements, customer benefits and career development.

Furthermore, in addition to the above, below is a summary of the further offers we made to you at ACAS:
5. 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.
6. A joint review of the OBS role after 12 months of operation, to look at role development, training and future career development.
7. A guaranteed minimum level of voluntary overtime for all OBSs, the detail of which would be agreed with the RMT.
8. A guarantee to retain the OBS role at the levels already guaranteed, beyond 2021, should GTR retain the franchise.

This is on top of the commitments we have already made to the RMT which include:

No compulsory redundancies.
• No reduction in salary.
• No compulsory location moves.
• A guaranteed, above-inflation pay-rise for the next two years.
• An increase in the existing ‘shift premia’ (which is additional salary paid to staff for working
voluntary overtime) to 20% over the next three years.
• A promise to increase the number of back-up staff to help manage unplanned disruption – thereby ensuring the railway is staffed more in the future than it is today.

The above offer, in full, remains on the table for your acceptance. As you know, our plans to implement the new role will commence on 21 August 2016 (although no conductor will move to the OBS role on that date) so the window for you to reach agreement with us is closing. If no agreement is reached by that date we will confirm our position direct with our employees.

I am sure you are aware that we have been actively engaged with Aslef on our plans to implement an extension of Driver Only Operation (Passenger), (DOO(P)), and have written to Aslef setting out our plans and timetable. We clarified these plans with you at ACAS, in relation to which rolling stock and routes will operate with an OBS and which with a Conductor.

My point is that this change is happening. I would urge you to be part of it and help us create a future service that will benefit our customers and employees, and our business and your union.

I would like to deal with two points that have been raised by you since talks ended.

Safety. I have already covered the fact that you passed up on the opportunity to directly question our safety experts. As you know over 60% of GTR services already operate DOO(P). For you to suggest this is unsafe is not only incorrect, but it is disrespectful to all our employees, including your members, who are delivering a safe and professional service day in, day out.

The Rail Safety Standards Board (RSSB) has stated that no increased risk from properly implemented Driver Only Operation has been detected in any research carried out by the RSSB or its predecessor organisation 'Rail Safety'. A number of projects have been published by RSSB over the last 15 years on various aspects of DOO on passenger trains. None of these pieces of work has identified any increased risk from dispatching a train without a guard being present - providing the correct procedures have been followed. Furthermore, the RSSB has stated that the removal of any possible miscommunication, which could exist between driver and guard could, potentially, deliver some safety benefits.

Claims of ‘union-busting’. We strongly refute these claims. We are firmly committed to collective bargaining and about 85 % of our employees are covered by collective bargaining arrangements. Your statement is also contradicted by the fact that we have offered you collective bargaining rights in relation to the OBS role.

Now is the time for your Union to display leadership and bring an end to this pointless dispute, which is causing undue disruption and hardship to our customers and employees. I would ask you to call off this strike immediately and reconvene with us to settle this dispute, as outlined in this letter. I am happy to meet with you direct, or under the auspices of ACAS, as quickly as possible.

I await your response.

Yours sincerely,

Andy Bindon
Human Resources Director

ENDS