Advertisement

Greater Anglia workers announce 48 hour strike

.

Workers at five railway operators including Greater Anglia are to strike in November in bitter disputes over the role of guards and driver-only operation of trains.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) on Southern, South Western Railway and Greater Anglia will strike for 48 hours from November 8, and for 24 hours on Merseyrail and Arriva Rail North on November 8.

The union said it had made "every single effort" to resolve the disputes, accusing the train operators of "suspending" normal industrial relations.<

We are obviously disappointed with the announcement today. We’re keen to avert industrial action and resolve the issues with further talks with the RMT.

In the event of industrial action going ahead on Wednesday 7 November and Thursday 8 November, we’d like to reassure customers that we have contingency plans in place and intend to run a full service.

We value our conductors highly and we have guaranteed their jobs until the end of the franchise in October 2025. In fact, we will be recruiting additional conductors, as we are replacing all of our trains with brand new trains from 2019, which will enable us to run more services.

– Richard Dean, Greater Anglia