DRIVERS on Southern belonging to ASLEF are preparing to join the dispute over driver-only operation by staging their first strikes, including a week-long walkout in the New Year.
Govia Thameslink Railway has warned that the new stoppages will have a 'devastating impact' on the economy in the south east of England, while ASLEF's general secretary said he saw 'the DfT's fingerprints all over this dispute'.
The union said just over 87 per cent of those who had voted had been in favour of strikes, in reaction to Southern's decision to 'force through driver only operation'.
Nearly all drivers are members of ASLEF, and the decision of the union's executive committee follows a series of walkouts this year called by the RMT, which represents most conductors. Their strikes have caused serious disruption and the cancellation of at least three trains out of ten, but action by ASLEF is likely to trigger an almost complete shutdown, because more than 95 per cent of Southern's drivers are ASLEF members.
The unions are opposed to the introduction of DOO on most of Southern's services, saying safety is at risk. Although trains would still normally have a second member of staff on board, there is particular opposition to Southern's requirement that it should be able to run trains with only a driver, in 'exceptional circumstances'.
Govia Thameslink Railway, which runs Southern, has faced calls for its franchise to be terminated following poor performance and the continuing industrial dispute over DOO.
GTR chief executive Charles Horton reacted to the new strike dates by saying: "The travelling public has endured months of misery and seen their work and family lives turned upside down by RMT's futile industrial action with conductors. Now ASLEF and the drivers want to compound that suffering by joining the fray in launching more pointless strikes.
"It’s perfectly safe for the driver to have sole responsibility for the operation of a modern train, and that's how a third of the trains up and down the country - with the full agreement and support of Aslef - already operate today.
"These strikes will have a devastating impact on the South East economy and people's everyday lives which will bring Southern to a standstill. We urge the union to get round the table with us to continue our talks and resolve their dispute without causing further unnecessary grief to passengers.
"Passengers have made it crystal clear that they want an end to these strikes. Both the RMT and ASLEF should take stock and listen, if not to us, then at least to the travelling public. Let's end these strikes now without further suffering."
However, ASLEF general secretary Mick Whelan said: "We have done our level best to try and reach a sensible, workable compromise with Southern in the interests of passengers as well as staff. We have always been happy to talk to the company, and we have always believed it is, or should be, possible to do a deal – as we did with ScotRail in Scotland – but it takes two to tango and the company has not been prepared to negotiate.
"The company – and I see the DfT’s fingerprints all over this dispute, it’s as if the DfT is the ventriloquist and Southern the ventroliquist’s dummy – doesn’t want to talk, it wants to bully; it doesn’t want to discuss, it wants to impose. Because it doesn’t care about passenger safety, only about profits for shareholders."
The walkouts by ASLEF drivers have been called on 13, 14 and 16 December, and from 9 to 14 January inclusive. ASLEF also said its members would not perform any 'non-contractual duties' from 6 December.