Fresh railway strike misery for Hampshire commuters revealed
RAILWAY passengers are expected to face another day of misery next week as a fresh round of strikes kicks off.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union is organising industrial action on Tuesday which will affect Southern services in the area.
It comes amid an ongoing row between the union and Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) over proposals for a new on-board supervisor role and plans for drivers to operate doors.
RMT has objected to the changes and has already held two strikes against the move.
The latest wave of industrial actions comes after talks between GTR and RMT ended.
GTR has since condemned the move to hold further actions.
GTR’s chief operating officer Dyan Crowther said despite six months of talks, RMT had given ‘no practical plan’ to implement the new role.
‘Instead we have this announcement of a totally unnecessary strike,’ she added.
GTR insists the new role will not come at the cost of jobs and would improve the service, something RMT officials deny.
The union argues there would be fewer staff manning the trains, forcing guards to ‘train hop’.