Keep the Guard on the Train
The Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union group fully supports the campaign by the RMT to protect the conductor role on Northern Trains. As the RMT say, this is a question of health and safety for passengers and those working on the railways. As the RMT General Secretary Mick Cash has said recently ahead of a recent strike over this issue, "As a result of the Arriva Rail North attitude the action goes ahead in defence of rail safety, access and security and the public will understand that we are fighting in the interests of rail passengers across the region. This dispute is about putting public safety before private profit and that is the message we will be sending out on the picket lines"
The Campaign Against Climate Change's Million Climate Jobs report has argued that in order to massively reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions, the UK needs to expand its public transport network. This means we will need more workers on the railways, not less. Removing existing jobs and skills will be a step away from the public transport system that we need in order to avoid catastrophic climate change.
We encourage all environmentalists, trade unionists and activists to support the RMT strike by visiting their picket lines, sending messages of support including financial donations to the RMT hardship fund and to join the campaigns by the Rail unions for an expanded public rail network.