Train managers and senior conductors on Cross Country are determined to put a stop to management's efforts to undermine their role. The company seems to think that it is OK to step up other grades to cover these, which is unfair on the staff involved, and is an obvious ploy to making the safety-critical guard's role less secure.
Cross Country Trains want to introduce 'Contingency Guards' - such as of admin staff, recruitment team, graduates and managers - to work trains. We don't imagine they would want a guard stepping into a manager's job for the day, or taking over recruiting new staff for a while, so what on earth makes them think that these grades can be a guard the day?! Of course the company has its eye on not only weakening the role of the guard but on undermining future strikes by drafting in an army of strike-breakers.
Fortunately, Cross Country workers know that the best way to defend the right to strike effectively is to use it, and have put on some solid action. So, what's next?
Conscious that trains are quiet, if strike action is put on again we have to ensure that it is co-ordinated with action on other TOCs or that we choose dates when we will have an impact. Or both! The people in the best position to identify those dates are the rank-and-file reps and activists on XC Trains, and RMT nationally must take responsibility for spreading the dispute and reviving the fight to defend guards across the national railway.
