I didn’t mean to start off the SWR DOO debate again, apologies admin.
The DfT/SWR believe they can provide a better service for passengers with the driver doing the doors, and occasionally running a train without a 2nd member of staff.
There was a debate earlier about who has learnt the most from the Southern dispute, and pains me to say it, but DfT have left the RMT in the their wake. The DfT have an objective, their official objective is a lot less sinister then perhaps their true intent, but, they have adapted their gameplay to better beat the union.
The union say x, y and z happens if you remove guards from trains, the company fights back with ‘we’re not getting rid of guards’. Instantly you lose public support because they perceive the union as being unreasonable.
The other thing that annoys me as well is that we hear a fluffy PR release after talks from the companies involved promising the world, and then you hear the union PR after a meeting which is the chimes of doom. There has to be a middle ground which is why the only fair way to know what goes on behind those closed doors is to have an unbiased employee in that room, or to do an unedited live TV debate, similar to what was done with Southern a few years ago.
Someone once said to me ‘a compromise is when neither side get exactly what they want, but they stopped the other side from getting what they wanted’
I personally want the RMT to make a deal with SWR, because otherwise it’s going to go exactly the same way as southern where contracts are torn up. They still have leverage now, sell DOO to the company but tie them up in loopholes to make it as difficult as possible to run services DOO, and futureproof it so that GO-Via/Arriva/Stagecoach/anyone else who wants to come and run a train company can’t then chip away at those conditions.
The DfT/SWR believe they can provide a better service for passengers with the driver doing the doors, and occasionally running a train without a 2nd member of staff.
There was a debate earlier about who has learnt the most from the Southern dispute, and pains me to say it, but DfT have left the RMT in the their wake. The DfT have an objective, their official objective is a lot less sinister then perhaps their true intent, but, they have adapted their gameplay to better beat the union.
The union say x, y and z happens if you remove guards from trains, the company fights back with ‘we’re not getting rid of guards’. Instantly you lose public support because they perceive the union as being unreasonable.
The other thing that annoys me as well is that we hear a fluffy PR release after talks from the companies involved promising the world, and then you hear the union PR after a meeting which is the chimes of doom. There has to be a middle ground which is why the only fair way to know what goes on behind those closed doors is to have an unbiased employee in that room, or to do an unedited live TV debate, similar to what was done with Southern a few years ago.
Someone once said to me ‘a compromise is when neither side get exactly what they want, but they stopped the other side from getting what they wanted’
I personally want the RMT to make a deal with SWR, because otherwise it’s going to go exactly the same way as southern where contracts are torn up. They still have leverage now, sell DOO to the company but tie them up in loopholes to make it as difficult as possible to run services DOO, and futureproof it so that GO-Via/Arriva/Stagecoach/anyone else who wants to come and run a train company can’t then chip away at those conditions.