The Tories should crush the rail unions once and for all – voters would thank them for it. By JOHN MCTERNAN
We are in the middle of a five-day rail strike on Southern Rail. Commuters are being massively disrupted. And this is just the latest stage in a dispute in which the Luddite RMT union has made it clear that it is fully committed to fighting against the future.
What about the Government? Where are they in this dispute. It is a crystallisation of all their key themes: investment, modernisation, innovation and productivity. But they are silent.
Well not quite. What we have actually seen is the resignation of the then rail minister Claire Perry, who said: "I am often ashamed to be the Rail Minister." And so she should have been - just for her pathetic capitulation to the RMT. This, of course, is just what you would have expected from a Miliband government; but this is a Tory government, with a majority.
Commuters in the Home Counties could be forgiven for thinking: "I waited 23 years for a majority Tory government. Instead I got you." Where are the core Tory values? Where is the support for management's right to manage?
This is not even a complicated dispute. It is a simple case of right and wrong. The rail company are right and the union is wrong. At the heart of this is Southern's desire to improve services for passengers. New rolling stock can - and should - be be operated with drivers responsible for opening and closing doors. This frees up staff time. And saves on running costs as Southern rolling stock would be interchangeable with Thameslink trains - a franchise that the Train Operating Company Govia Thameslink Railway also operate.
The fact that this is merely a harmonisation of working conditions with those already existing on Thameslink highlights its absurdity. For nearly thirty years Thameslink - a service established by the old nationalised BR - has had drivers operating train doors. It is not a new technology - it is a tried and tested one. So established that four out of ten trains in Britain already operate this way.
This is a blatant attempt by the RMT to veto progress, to frustrate and prevent change. That can be seen in its tactics.
Its first line of attack was to try to disrupt crew rosters by getting staff to go off sick. That way they could force train cancellations.
It is a tried and tested technique. When I was a Southwark Councillor there were workers who clearly took sickies in an organised pattern. Why? It created a need for staff to cover. Bingo! Overtime for all. How did we deal with it? Firm management. When the unions are having a laugh you have to beat them - and, if necessary, break their stranglehold. It's not pleasant - confrontation never is. But it is necessary.
To be fair to them, the Southern Rail management are taking the fight to the unions. Govia Thameslink have no intention of backing off. Why should they? They are in the right. But they are being betrayed by this pathetic Tory government. This should be a no-brainer for ministers. Who do they support in a struggle between the mindless militants of the RMT and the voters of commuter land? Hmm, let me think for a minute...
It's not as if the pathetic inaction of the Government has no cost. Rail strikes are the new black. A week of action is threatened on Eurostar. And there may be action on Virgin Trains on the East Coast Main Line.
The Government cannot be neutral in this struggle. They urgently need to back the rail companies in any ways that they can. Having a Labour Leader whose politics are throwback to the seventies is bad enough, having trade union battles that are an homage to the era of the Heath Government is taking it too far.
) and on page 12 there's an article where the RSSB say not only is there no evidence that DOO is unsafe but DOO is actually safer as the driver is in full control with no risk of miscommunication. The RMT's quoted response is the RSSB are not independent and have ignored the 'blindingly obvious' points they've made with regards to DOO.
