the sniper
Established Member
- Joined
- 4 Sep 2007
- Messages
- 3,499
I can't see the RMT lasting beyond 2020 as eventually its members and the general public will be at the end of their tether that one more stike will be the one that will break the camels back and the terminal demise of the RMT.
I can imagine seeing the next Northern franchise being fully DOO and staffed by non unionised employees, all because of the RMT's actions during this franchise.
The next franchise will see the beginning of the winding down of the 'second person' grade, inevitably, with single manning widely becoming standard in the following franchise. I'm glad you can accept this unlike some here. The RMT dispute is entirely irrelevant to the realisation of this though in the medium to long term. Somebody will have to pay for whatever financial settlement ASLEF agree upon for accepting DOO working with the introduction of 'DCO'. People (particularly here) will buy into your narrative that the inevitable was actually the RMTs fault for resisting 'DCO' in the first place, rather than the entirely predictable outcome of 'DCO' that many in the industry, including the RMT, foresaw all along.
The RMT will struggle in the post Guard era as they become as powerless and toothless as most other unions in this country. The forum may rejoice at that, but sadly without the power of the Guards grade in collective bargaining the lower paid grades will also get shafted too.
The TOCs won't and don't need to jump into your silly ideas of 'declaring the RMT is no longer a union', whatever that means. They're already involved in a set program to undermine the RMT, they know where they're going and will just stay the course. No need to get trigger happy.
A letter was sent out by the directors of the company, saying how much they value on board staff and how they will need them in order to comply with DfT specification and requirements and they would be happy to negotiate with the RMT however they have turned this down and they are now getting ready for another ballot over on board staff assisting with cleaning duties similar to Scotrail TEs when passing on trains in order to improve cleanliness scores in passenger surveys.
Most people go by their employers actions, the working environment as they find it and their own judgement rather than falling for generic love letters from distant upper management. But I'm sure Sir Peter Hendy really does love you though, fear not.