As guards, and RMT drivers, at five Train Operating Companies (TOCs) strike again on 8-9 November to resist the imposition of Driver Only Operation (DOO), rail workers have received the demoralising news that Aslef members on Southern have voted by 79.1% to accept a deal that will see Aslef retreat...
A report from a Northern guard
Our depot is solid with regards to the strike action. We only have 21 guards, of whom 17 have appeared on the picket line at one time or another (we average about 11 people on each strike day). Newcastle, Workington and Barrow are likewise unified.
Interestingly...
July has seen a number of interesting and potentially important developments in the ongoing dispute between rail unions and the Train Operating Companies (TOCs) and the government over Driver Only Operation (DOO).
Since RMT strike action on July 8th (Northern, Southern and Merseyrail), 9th...
Call to support and stamp out unacceptable working conditions for our members who are facing the tyranny of their scabby employers but the might of TOCs and their contractual arrangements with their suppliers.
Over two weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a RMT reps course at Doncaster...
Disabled activists will be joining picket lines tomorrow morning to support all three strikes against driver-only operation (DOO).
The companies' threat to remove guards is not just a threat to our jobs - for many disabled people, it threatens their right to travel on the railway at all. Many of...
RMT members on Southern, Northern, and MerseyRail will strike again in July, as the fight to stop "Driver Only Operation" (DOO) continues.
Southern workers will strike on 10 July, Northern workers on 8-10 July, and MerseyRail on 8, 10, and 23 July.
Activists in the Disabled People Against...
This is a joint blog post from Tubeworker and Off The Rails.
Off The Rails has translated statements from the SUD-Rail union in France, part of the Solidaires union federation.
As readers will see, it deals with a sensitive subject: the recent suicide of one of their comrades. SUD say it is time for rail workers to break the "omerta", the code of silence...
This blog is intended as a contribution to discussion. Let us know what you think: Off The Rails will publish replies we receive.
The RMT action on Northern and Merseyrail against Driver Only Operation on 13th March was very successful.
At Merseyrail, ALL Traincrew stayed out, including ALL Drivers, despite the majority of them belonging to ASLEF, which has not yet joined the dispute. The ONLY trains that moved at...
This article appeared in the bulletin On Guard, which can be downloaded here.
This article appeared in the workplace bulletin On Guard, which can be downloaded here.
The votes are in, and Aslef drivers on Southern have delivered a resounding "no thanks" to their leaders' sell-out deal, blowing the dispute against Driver Only Operation wide open again.
The scores on the doors were 54.1% against the deal and 45.9% for it, on a high turnout of 72.7%.
The...
We seem to be well on course for Southern ASLEF members to vote overwhelmingly to reject the DOO sell-out. The feeling in the depots is that the deal contains nothing new that GTR weren't offering before the strikes.
Tuesday's joint branches meeting was very opposed to the deal. The only defence...
On a late gloomy Monday evening in February something happened in Leeds, something unprecedented. The RMT Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Regional Council had the week prior made a decision to begin to mobilise its Arriva Rail North Guard and Driver members for the fight ahead, the fight against Driver...
This is the text of a special bulletin produced by supporters of Off The Rails, a platform for rank-and-file rail workers, urging ASLEF drivers on Southern to vote to reject the deal aimed at settling the dispute over "Driver Only Operation" (DOO).
To download a PDF copy of the bulletin for...
A track worker writes ...
RMT has accepted Network Rail's pay offer. It looks good on paper, but it's an award without a fight.
It's an inflation-proof settlement with the no redundancy clause extended for another two years (the duration of the deal).
It seems that the union has grabbed...
As workers on Southern prepare to strike again in defence of the role of the guard, that paragon of rational commentary The Evening Standard has a shrill article denouncing our strategy as "utter cynicism".
They complain that three strike days have been planned selectively, to spread their impact...
Workers at the Crossrail construction site on Tottenham Court Road, Central London, are striking in protest at the forced displacement of Terry Wilson, their site steward, to a different workplace.
Terry was transferred after 200 workers protested at Crossrail's headquarters to demand increased...
In the history of workers' struggles in the early 20th century, and occasionally since, the term "labour war" has been used to describe an industrial dispute that reaches an almost military pitch. Such disputes saw workers mount armed pickets, to defend their strikes against the police, right-wing...
RMT has announced further strikes on Southern, on 7-8 September, involving both guards, who are resisting the introduction of Driver Only Operation, and station staff, who are fighting against ticket office closures and the de-skilling of their role.
When the union suspended the last set of...
This article was written before the recent suspension of the strikes on Southern. For comment on that, click here.
The RMT has suspended the rest of this week's strikes on Southern. Many striking guards will have received that news, which came after a day which saw a solid strike and well-supported pickets across the Southern network, as well as a lively demonstration at the Department for Transport, with...
Workers at Southern struck again on 21 June, in their dispute against "Driver Only Operation" (DOO). One of the strikers spoke to Off The Rails.
Off The Rails is a platform for rank-and-file rail workers. Check out the Off The Rails Facebook page here.
An EMT driver reports...
In April 2016, after seven months of talks, East Midlands Trains (EMT) proposed a deal to its drivers that would guarantee a Sunday service.
Presently, and for many years previously, drivers have not had to work on Sundays. A lot of us are induced to work, in the main...
The Northern Exposer reports:
Staff at Northern are just settling into a new era under the control of German national rail operator, Deutsche Bahn. The franchise changed hands on April 1st, aptly enough April Fool’s Day.
The regime started much as the last one ended, with spin and propaganda...
We have been reporting for some time on moves within the UK rail industry, supported by the Department for Transport, to move most or all passenger trains to Driver Only Operation (DOO). Where DOO is in operation it means trains can enter service with only one member of staff - the train driver - on...
The news that the London Overground franchise will be transferred to Arriva will undoubtedly be met with indifference by many workers, who will rightly see it as a case of "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".
Despite being run under the TfL aegis, London Overground was already privatised...
Signallers are refusing to go along with unsafe blockades.
Time was that trackside gangs could talk directly with the signal box and organise the protection they need. But these days, unless there is a failure, they have to go through the planners. So if the planners get it wrong, there is a...
A DfT official has been forced into an apology after making derogatory remarks about train drivers at a public meeting in Croydon.
Peter Wilkinson, the director of Rail Passenger Services, told the audience that those of us who planned to resist cuts and attacks on our terms and conditions could...
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