THERE were 200 drivers, guards and engineers in RMT and Aslef outside Marylebone Station in London from 9am-10.30am yesterday morning protesting against Chiltern Railways’ plans to impose Driver Only Operations on the proposed East West Rail link project running between Oxford and Milton Keynes.
The demonstrators came from all over the country including Liverpool, Dover, South-East and South-West Region.
They are angry at getting rid of the guard especially after the horrendous mass stabbing at Huntingdon late last year which was only prevented from being worse by the bravery of trained onboard staff.
RMT member and driver Andreas Demeteriou spoke to News Line, saying: ‘I am frustrated at the proposed new line by Chiltern Railways between Oxford and Cambridge.
‘It’s an old line that’s being revamped. What happened at Huntingdon was a terrible situation which made us realise we need more staff on train for the safety of passengers and railworkers.’
Peter Fox, engineer Chiltern Railways RMT, said: ‘We must support the guards and drivers as a unit of the train. They are there to protect each other.
‘When you’ve got no guard on the train the driver cannot be responsible for Joe Public without compromising his own work.
‘I am fully in support of a national strike to bring power back to the people.
‘We’ve elected a government to represent us and they are not, based on their mandate, which they are now reneging on.
‘I’m not just against the Labour government, it’s the worst government ever in my 40 years of being in this country. They ask for our vote, they say we are a democracy but we’re not.
‘We need to unionise the younger generation so they understand the importance of being organised to fight for their rights.’
