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RMT calls for an immediate end to plans to axe train guards

RMT union members protesting about plans to cut train guards Credit: Press Association

Rail union leaders have demanded an immediate halt to cutting train guards, an issue which has led to strikes across the country, including on Southern Rail.

Mick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said the election had sent out a clear message that the public have rejected cuts, austerity and privatisation.

Despite Theresa May and her allies throwing the full weight of the establishment machine at Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party, the electorate have seen through that barrage of negativity and have voted in their droves for Labour's socialist manifesto.

RMT is calling for an immediate halt to the push to axe the guards on our trains. That was a political policy driven by the Tory party and should now be buried under the weight of votes that have racked up against Theresa May and her programme. There is no mandate for diluting safety on our transport services.

– Mick Cash, RMT

The union is writing to Arriva Rail North, Southern and Merseyrail, firms embroiled in disputes over staffing and driver-only trains, demanding that they lift the "threat" to guards.