So to me, it seems that today, Southern want to take away the responsibility of ‘pressing the button’ from the guards.
Is this worth striking over, on its own – No.
However, I think this is seen as a step towards rail companies eroding the role & responsibilities of manual staff and that from the unions perspective they have to draw the line somewhere and make a point of “who controls who” at some point and so they have chosen this point. Its highly visible and a mighty pain in the a**e and so there is an incentive to resolve it from all sides. This is the same as the tube unions have been doing for years.
I don’t particularly blame the Unions. They are doing what they do & quite frankly they don’t give a **** about anyone else. I do believe that their time is limited and that these roles will be automated at some point but not without a fight and probably not until we are the laughing stock of the world for having the most antiquated public transport system in the modern world.
Do the rail companies want to get rid of the guards on the trains eventually? probably. I don’t think we can blame them either. They are under pressure to reduce fairs and increase efficiency too.
I certainly don’t think nationalised industry is the way to go. The incentives are all wrong if you want a decent efficient service. That said. the current model is not right either.
The solution?? Not sure.
I do feel sorry for my fellow commuters stuffed in the middle of this turdfest of a battleground though. Good luck guys.
