South Western Railway strikes set to cause travel misery for Christmas shoppers
and live on Freeview channel 276
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union on South Western Railway walked out this morning for the sixth time since last Monday as part of 27 days of industrial action this month.
Picket lines have been mounted outside stations across the network, causing huge disruption on one of the busiest shopping weekends of Christmas.
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Hide AdMany services have been cancelled or replaced by buses and those that were running were expected to be much busier than normal.
The dispute over the role of guards remains deadlocked more than two years since it flared up.
The two sides have exchanged letters in recent days, with the union calling for fresh talks at the conciliation service Acas.
The RMT says the dispute now centres on whether guards should have a few seconds to make sure trains leave platforms safely.
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Hide AdSWR managing director Andy Mellors said in a letter that further talks must be on the proviso that the union has a ‘new solution’ to safely delivering over 10 million more peak-time passenger journeys on time each year.
An RMT spokesman said: ‘The union will continue to push for a negotiated settlement that protects passenger safety and our members remain rock-solid in the ongoing action.
‘We are bitterly disappointed that the company are throwing obstacles in the way of a settlement which is about nothing more than three seconds extra time on the despatch process in the interests of safety.’
Here are the dates for the strikes this month:
- From 12.01am on Monday, December 2 until 11.59 on Wednesday, December 11
- From 12.01am on Friday, December 13 until 11.59pm on Tuesday, December 24 (Christmas Eve)
- From 12.0am on Friday, December 27 until 11.59pm on January 1, 2020.