THE RMT will hold a national protest outside Parliament at noon next Wednesday, 26th April, to mark the one year anniversary of RMT industrial action against the extension of Driver Only Operation (DOO) on Southern Rail.
RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said yesterday: ‘Heroic RMT members working for Southern Rail have taken 31 days of industrial action against the threat to rail safety from Driver Only Operation. Those RMT members have put their passengers and their local communities first and they are a credit to the entire trade union movement.
‘It is right that rail workers from across the UK should have a chance to come together with our Southern members to mark the first anniversary of the dispute. DOO is a national threat and this protest provides the opportunity for members from across Britain to make their voices heard and for us to show the politicians and media that our fight for passenger safety will continue.’
• RMT members have voted for action over the ‘London Bridge Three’ – Tube staff sacked and disciplined for stopping a violent assault. Station staff in the London Bridge and Waterloo groups have voted for both strike action and action short of a strike in a ballot after a member was sacked and two others disciplined for intervening to stop a serious assault by a fare-dodger on fellow staff members including one who was pregnant.
In the incident last November a fare-dodger assaulted three members of staff, including pushing a pregnant colleague in the stomach. One staff member had his glasses stolen and another was punched twice. That member of staff has now been sacked in what the union called an ‘appalling miscarriage of justice.’
Mick Cash said: ‘Our members have voted for action in support of their victimised colleagues at London Bridge and that ballot result will now be considered by the union’s national executive. This was a shocking, violent incident and those that bore the brunt of it should have been supported and commended by the company instead of being sacked or disciplined in what is the most appalling multiple miscarriage of justice.’
