MANY of your readers will be dismayed at the prospect of more strikes on Arriva Trains Northern.

I make no apologies for the fact that RMT is campaigning hard for a just pay rise for our members. Nobody likes to strike, but when an employer refuses to negotiate in the normal meaning of the word, there is little left for us to do.

It is our members who have to deal daily with the frustrations of passengers fed up with already-creaking services. They are the front line and work hard and in good humour.

But they are paid rather less than the £307,000 chief executive Bob Davis.

An Arriva conductor has a basic of £15,500. Station, retail and some key operating staff get a lot less - some little more than £11,000.

Arriva drivers won an 18.5 per cent rise, backdated pension benefits and a £400 Christmas bonus - and I do not begrudge them a penny of it.

But all railway staff are essential, and conductors too have the right to expect fair pay.

Arriva announced a massive increase in profits last month. They handed shareholders a five per cent rise but are still offering only three per cent to the people who actually create the profits.

Now Arriva Trains Northern has banned overtime and rest-day working - and had to cancel hundreds more trains as a result. They have also threatened to sack union reps who dare talk to the press.

Our last meeting with managers was very short. There was nothing new. Three per cent. Take it or leave it.

It is about time the company started looking for ways to solve this dispute instead of looking for new ways to penalise our members and the travelling public.

Bob Crow,

General Secretary, RMT.

Unity House,

Chalton Street, London.

Updated: 10:44 Friday, April 05, 2002