UK: RMT union betrays four-year struggle against Driver Only Operated trains at South Western Railway
The BBC has published details of an agreement reached between the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union (RMT) and South Western Railway (SWR) management that removes door operations from train guards and imposes these on the train driver. The BBC reports, “SWR has ordered 90 new trains designed to work without a guard and the RMT has accepted drivers will operate the doors.”
The RMT’s deal with SWR is a grotesque betrayal of a four-year struggle by its 900 guards and 40 drivers against Driver Only Operated trains (DOO). The union intends to push through similar and worse deals against their members as part of its participation in the Conservative government’s Rail Industry Recovery Group (RIRG).