GOVIA Thameslink Railway is returning to the High Court in the continuing and increasingly bitter dispute between the company and unions over driver-only operation on Southern and Gatwick Express.
GTR is seeking an injunction which would prevent ASLEF continuing with a strike ballot of its driver members on Gatwick Express. The company claims that the union has broken the rules which control the conduct of ballots, and that 'because it induced drivers to refuse to drive trains in advance of conducting the ballot, it cannot now lawfully ask them to take industrial action'.
ASLEF, which is opposing DOO operation of 12-car trains on the Gatwick route, said it was 'disappointed', and that it had yet to take any industrial action. The result of the ballot is due on Monday, when the union's executive committee will decide what to do next.
Conductors belonging to the RMT went on strike for a third day on Southern routes yesterday, after two days of industrial action in late April.
Southern said around two thirds of its trains ran, with the help of 'contingency' conductors and office staff. The RMT said support for the action had been 'solid and determined'.
The RMT is fighting plans to replace many conductors with 'on board supervisors' who would look after passengers but not control the doors. GTR pointed out that more than half of the trains operated on its networks are already driver-only operated. DOO was introduced between Bedford and London on what is now part of Thameslink as long ago as 1982.
The clash has provoked heated exchanges, with the RMT accusing GTR of endangering safety for the sake of profit. GTR responded: "This is nothing to do with profits. Safety is our absolute number one priority. The RMT is being deliberately misleading with this outrageous claim."
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "The union welcomes the support from the travelling public as they recognise that this dispute is about defending safety critical jobs and services against the drive for cash-driven cuts that would see those services hacked to ribbons.
"With commuters paying thousands of pounds a year for their annual tickets on Southern there can be no explanation for the removal of the guards other than a central obsession in the board room for putting increased profits above public safety. That message is ringing out loud and clear as the dispute continues."
However, GTR chief executive Charles Horton responded: “This pointless and unnecessary action by the RMT causes enormous disruption for the 300,000 people we carry on their commute every day.
“The railway men and women of Britain are overwhelmingly diligent and hard-working, and they care deeply about the rail service they provide. But they are being led astray, and misled repeatedly, by trade unions acting in their own narrow, selfish interests and ignoring the interests of either commuters or railway workers themselves. It’s time for those unions to get on board with these changes which will improve the railway for passengers, as well as securing the jobs of their members.”