Joint statement from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Merseyrail and the RMT Union

BOTH the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Merseyrail and the RMT Union have agreed in principle that, subject to the provision and approval of an appropriate, affordable and sustainable funding package, the new fleet of Merseyrail Trains, will have a 2nd member of staff on board the train.

In order to pay for a 2nd member of staff on each train additional funding will now need to be generated. Productivity proposals have come forward from the ACAS process that will cover some of the required funding, however additional means will also need to be considered by all parties, which could include an enhanced crackdown on fare evasion and increased fares. The design of the new trains proposes that the door control and dispatch of the trains will transfer to the driver. No 1 currently employed as a guard will lose their employment as a result of the introduction of the new fleet in 2021.

All parties will now undertake the detailed work required to develop a full proposed agreement, which will take some months and will require compromise on all sides. An element of this will be agreeing the role and safety responsibilities of this 2nd member of staff as part of the process. The current business case will need to be revisited. Whilst this takes place and until dialogue has been completed there will be no further industrial action.

Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, said:- "I am pleased that we are agreeing in principle that there will be a 2nd member of staff on board the train when the new, state of the art Merseyrail fleet is fully in place in 2021. I have always believed that the only way this dispute would be resolved was by all sides sitting down and talking. That's why I pushed for Merseyrail and the RMT to enter ACAS talks in 2017 and I'm pleased that this approach has got us to where we are today. Today's announcement is huge progress, but I also want to be clear that it requires a significant financial commitment and hard choices on all sides. This has to be kept in mind alongside the reality of the substantial reductions in funding that Merseytravel will receive from government over the next 10 years. I believe this agreement gives us the best chance to successfully deliver and operate the new fleet of trains and therefore is in the best interests of the people of the Liverpool City Region. We will now complete the detailed work to explore and hopefully identify the affordable funding package needed to gain a final agreement"

Andy Heath, Merseyrail Managing Director said:- "Merseyrail and its shareholders have given our support to this agreement as we have always been clear that any dispute between us and the RMT will only be resolved through talks. Today's announcement is an acknowledgement of that fact. The commitment from the RMT to continue the suspension of industrial action during this review period will undoubtedly help maintain the continuity of the current phase of ACAS conciliation which will allow us to plan our operational delivery around the major programme of Merseyrail platform modifications and the major events between now and the end of the year. During this phase of conciliation we will continue our engagement with both the Combined Authority and the RMT as we explore the feasibility and affordability of a solution to keeping a 2nd person on the new trains."

RMT General Secretary, Mick Cash said:- "Today's agreement in principle is an important and‎ significant development in respect of RMT's long running campaign to retain a guaranteed 2nd, safety critical member of staff on Merseyrail trains. I want to pay tribute to RMT members for their resilience and‎ solidarity throughout this campaign. We now await a fully formed and detailed set of proposals that the we can take back to our Executive and our members."

RMT reveals companies in line for tens of millions pounds bail out from Taxpayer

WITH guards striking again on Northern and South Western Railways RMT has released parliamentary answers provided by the Rail Minister Jo Johnson which reveal that both German state owned Northern Rail and Hong Kong owned South Western Railway have applied to the government to be reimbursed for revenues they have lost as a result of not being able to run trains on strike days. New RMT research has also revealed that on an average day Northern and South Western Railways combined would normally take ₤3.5 million in passenger revenues. On the basis that there have been a total of 39 strike days on Northern and South Western Railways, the cost to the Taxpayer of this strike bailout will be tens of millions of pounds.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said:- "The Rail Minister Jo Johnson has now confirmed that both Northern and South Western Railway have applied to be bailed out by the Tax payer for revenues loss on strike days. That is a national scandal when guards are taking action to defend safety, access and security on our railways. This actually means that these rail companies will be getting paid tens of millions by the Tax payer for trains that are not running. This is truly shocking in itself but also an absolute kick in the teeth for passengers when these eye watering sums could instead be spent on improving services and cutting fares. There is no excuse whatsoever for these companies to be throwing guards off their trains in a dash to pump up their profits. And in a new low for Chris Grayling we now have the grotesque spectacle of the British Government paying German and Hong Kong owned rail companies to wage war on rail workers who are seeking to save decent safety critical jobs and the principle of a secure and accessible railway for all."