Government commits to funding guards on trains
There are now calls for the RMT Union to call of planned strike action.
Northern Rail has welcomed the decision by the Department for Transport and the regulator, Transport for the North, for a second person to be kept on board Northern services.
This weekend sees RMT Union staff plan to walk out for the 38th time this year, in an ongoing row over the role of guards on trains.
With this new development, Northern Rail bosses are now calling on the union to suspend the rest of the strike action, planned for Saturdays between now and the new year.
David Brown, Managing Director at Northern, said:
“It’s welcome news that the Government has confirmed that a second person will be retained on board our trains.
“There is no reason for the RMT to continue its disruptive and economically damaging strikes in the build up to Christmas.
“We invited RMT to ACAS talks in the summer and were willing to discuss the options that they themselves put forward, including those RMT had agreed with other train operators.
“Despite those talks breaking down, we have remained open to further discussions, but all attempts have been rejected by RMT.
“I look forward to RMT suspending their December strikes, and accepting my long-standing invitation to get back round the table at ACAS to resolve their dispute."