Yesterday evening with other local MPs, I met the Prime Minister to discuss ongoing actions to address the Rail dispute.
It is clear from every source I have spoken to that the management put forward constructive proposals at ACAS and did so over two and half days of talks. Ultimately they got nowhere.
RMT members have overwhelmingly accepted their new contracts which commence from 1st January. We know the ASLEF strike isn’t about jobs or wages. They claim it is about a system of working – one which they have endorsed since the early 1980s and which their drivers are already using every day on 30 per cent of the network. It is a system used commonly around Europe. The system works safely and well.
The stations within the Horsham constituency include Balcombe Station on the Brighton Mainline (which is receiving the new class of trains first) and stations on route to Horsham itself.
I appreciate fully that the “Arun Valley” line has older lay-out, more rural, stations and is currently served by Class 377s with older cameras. However every station has been checked for safe DOO operation and the Director of Safety at the Office of Rail and Road Regulation has confirmed that the correct procedures have been followed. Where drivers identify concerns or ideas as to how to improve DOO operations on the Arun Valley line I am clearly all in favour of these being raised by them and if appropriate addressed by Southern - via ACAS if that is really required. DOO is safe but if there are genuine specific safety concerns these should be addressed directly.
I am sure I am not alone on having been on a Horsham train which has been delayed due to reported problems with the DOO cameras. This concerned me from a safety perspective. I tabled the written Parliamentary Question below and received a response this morning. The clear implication is that when trains are affected by reported camera failure these failures are not apparent when subsequently checked.
“Question:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what reports he has received on Southern trains (a) being taken out of service and (b) skipping stations or suffering delays due to cameras on driver-only operation trains failing. (56969)
Tabled on: 12 December 2016
Answer:
Paul Maynard:
Govia Thameslink Railway is not required to provide the Department with detailed information on the causes of train failures. Officials have discussed camera failures with Southern, who confirmed that there has been a noticeable increase in camera defects reported. However, when investigated, no faults have been found by technical teams.
The answer was submitted on 20 Dec 2016 at 11:44.”
I am increasingly convinced that the strikes are for deeper reasons, which may be impossible to address to the Unions’ satisfaction. The Sunday Times front page ran a story this week alleging that the President of the RMT (a union that has balloted for industrial action 56 times in 2016) declared that “the “No 1 rule” for his union…was to “strive to replace the capitalist system with a socialist order” “ The article also made a series of other similar allegations.
I am all for concerns being addressed through ACAS, agreements being made and railways returning to normal.
However if the heart of the complaint isn’t about working practices but is political this may be impossible to achieve.
I have pushed hard for the Department for Transport to do far more to enable commuters to get to work if these strikes persist. There are huge logistical and practical issues with trying to transport up to 500,000 people across the South East in these circumstances but I believe that more could and should be done.
I have expressed my particular concern about those who are self-employed and only get paid in the event of them being able to get to their place of work and I have asked the Department to look urgently as to how these passengers could be assisted. Government also has a role in taking up the cause of passengers with employers: they have to recognise that commuters are suffering through absolutely no fault of their own.
I have always believed that there is a valuable role for Trade Unions and I personally have always been reluctant to legislate, especially in circumstances when it could be perceived to be in reaction to a particular strike. However many have contacted me to urge just such a course of action. In other major economies (most of which are far less dependent than we are on rail travel) there is legislation restricting strike action on transport networks to what is proportionate or requiring a minimum level of service even on strike days. If this action continues without any prospect of resolution this will have to come on to the agenda.