Guards strike for safety

Train guards working for Midland Mainline rail services have taken strike action on successive Fridays in a dispute over safety.

Following a RMT rail union ballot which showed a majority of more than five to one in favour of strike action, around 150 guards took action on 27 May and 3 and 10 June. They were due to do so again as Workplace Report went to press.

Because different sections of Midland Mainline trains are sealed off from each other, a single guard cannot move through the whole of the train. The RMT says the company's refusal to put two guards on each train is compromising safety.

"I hope that members of the travelling public will understand that we are taking action to stop safety standards being subordinated to cost-cutting, and join with us in calling on the company to talk," said RMT general secretary Bob Crow.