RMT union to launch three-day strike on South Western Railway from Friday
A three-day strike will hit the embattled South Western Railway (SWR) this weekend, as the RMT union's industrial action over the role of guards continues into September.
The strike will begin on Friday from midnight and end at midnight on Sunday this weekend. Strikes will also take place at the same times on Saturday 8 September and Saturday 15 September.
Almost all of SWR's routes will be operating a reduced service – only the island line to the Isle of Wight will be in operation.
Journey planners will be updated overnight between Wednesday 29 August and Thursday 30 August.
RMT boss Mick Cash said the union called the strike because SWR "refuse to engage in serious talks".
“RMT is angry and frustrated that the company’s cavalier and contemptuous approach to talks leaves us no option but to continue our programme of industrial action. We know that passengers will share that anger," he said.
"There will be serious disruption throughout this weekend and the responsibility for that lays squarely with SWR and their Hong Kong and Aberdeen-based paymasters who appear to have no interest in negotiating a settlement."
He added: "RMT recently secured an agreement on Greater Anglia that enshrines the guard guarantee. Similar agreements have also been reached in Wales and Scotland. SWR need to do the right thing and come to an agreement that secures a guard on their trains too."
SWR operates services to destinations such as Reading, Bristol and Southampton out of two of London's busiest stations – Waterloo and Clapham Junction.
SWR said the RMT industrial action was "extremely disappointing".
"RMT has yet again chosen to needlessly inconvenience our customers, and its own members, across our network," it said.
"We are committed to resolving this dispute and earlier this week met with the RMT at Acas, reiterating our proposed framework agreement which centres around how we can better keep our customers moving during times of disruption.
"Despite the RMT agreeing to a similar deal with another train operator just a few weeks ago, the union has failed to explain to us, their members or our customers why such a deal is not acceptable on our network.
"The RMT executive’s answer to every question is strike – they need to start accepting that the railway is modernising and that their members can play a key part in that future if only they stop calling for action and work with us to deliver a better railway for our customers."
The RMT has been locked in a bitter dispute with SWR over the role of guards, accusing the operator of jeopardising the safety of passengers by trying to reduce their numbers of trains. SWR disputes this, saying it has guaranteed to roster a second person on all of its trains.
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