12 April 2012

FRUSTRATED South West Trains commuters - who have just endured their third 48-hour strike this month, and with the prospect of yet another to come in two weeks' time - are entitled to ask: "When will it ever end?"

Already the hard Left of the RMT has warned of escalating the stoppages to week-long or even national disputes. But SWT and the RMT are at stalemate. They cannot even agree to the terms of any future meeting - let alone actually taking part.

There are no new peace meetings planned and, with the situation looking ever more serious by the day, none likely. SWT is planning a basic - but effective - policy of "starve the strikers back to work".

It is substituting trained managers to take the place of guards and station assistants at the centre of the dispute. The Stagecoach-owned company ran 650 trains out of the usual 1,700 yesterday. For the next strike it says it will run 800 and, for the one after that (whenever it is announced) there will be 1,000.

At some point, says SWT managing director Andrew Haines, there will be a full schedule of trains and strikes will cease to have an effect.

A long and costly conflict lies ahead, with the danger that the two rail unions could co-ordinate action if they saw a threat to jobs or safety from rail management using non-union labour.

The threat of the strike spreading to other passenger train companies, perhaps even to a carefully orchestrated national stoppage, are increasing.

The SWT dispute is over two issues - pay, and the alleged abuse of disciplinary proceedings by SWT against union activists. It is the pay row, however, which would be used to include other companies.

It has all come about because train drivers, members of union Aslef, earn roughly a third more than train guards and station staff in the RMT. The RMT is campaigning to close the gap between their members and drivers.

But the train operators are feeling the financial pinch, after suffering reduced profits due to prolonged bad weather and the national track replacement programme that followed the Hatfield disaster of October 2000.

The operators will not agree to a parity deal and, even if they did, Aslef would immediately lodge additional claims to maintain the differential with "other ranks".

RMT strike ballots could follow at the other train companies and - with the mood among rail staff at the moment, unhappy over pay and working conditions, and being constantly harangued by angry passengers - they would undoubtedly support the call for industrial action.

The union would then co-ordinate any resulting strike action to take place on the same days.

This would effectively cause a national or near-national railway stoppage.

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