More cash on the line ...or else!

from tomorrow

IMAGINE being told your work colleagues have been given an 18 per cent pay rise. Then imagine that the same bosses who handed out that rise want to give you only eight per cent. It doesn't seem very fair, does it? And that is the crux of tomorrow's planned strike action by conductors at Arriva Trains Northern.

A fraction of North Yorkshire's services will run on Thursday and Friday, as conductors strike in protest at those pay rises to drivers which have not been offered to them.

The dispute, which threatens to derail Arriva's ambitious TransPennine Express franchise bid, is just the latest in a series of calamities for the company.

It has been fined £13 million by the Strategic Rail Authority in just one year for its poor performance. In October it had to cut 1,000 services a week from its winter timetable.

Now it faces a strike which, if not settled quickly, could hit passengers with 48-hours of strike action once a month for the next year.

When Arriva took over the crumbling Northern Spirit services, nearly two years ago, it found it had inherited a right mess.

Seriously under-funded and with a reduced workforce because of a policy of job cuts, Arriva began to control an operation without enough drivers to run a full programme of services.

Judging by winter timetable cuts imposed just a few months ago, driver numbers are still way down.

So, in a bid to attract would-be recruits to the Arriva stable, the company started paying more - much more.

Before privatisation the salaries of guards and drivers were, more or less, on a par.

But allowing market forces into Britain's rail network inevitably would bring staff pay to the top of the agenda.

This is directly responsible for the crisis facing North Yorkshire's rail network during the next couple of days.

For while drivers are benefiting from an 18 per cent pay hike and a salary touching £28,000, conductors have found themselves lagging behind at £15,500.

And they are furious.

To avoid a strike, they have demanded their bosses give them a comparable increase.

Management refuses to play ball. "We don't think the idea of suggesting there is a need to mimic what's happening with drivers is at all acceptable," says Julian Evans, Arriva's corporate director of communications.

He believes it's all a matter of market forces.

This attitude has enraged The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, which represents the conductors.

Regional organiser in York Stan Herschel has been at the forefront of negotiations with Arriva.

"Arriva Trains Northern management, led by managing director Ray Price, have completely failed to grasp the strength of feeling or resolve from their conductor staff who have had enough of being treated with contempt," he said.

The RMT has requested a salary for conductors of £19,000 - a £4,500 increase, but still about £9,000 behind a driver. It claims management have offered just £16,763. They also argue that much of that increase would have to be financed by cuts in conditions of service and changes to working practices.

The union was shocked. "Conductors are being short changed by a company which no longer has a fair or transparent pay structure," says Mr Herschel.

"This situation has clearly been caused by Arriva's mismanagement and RMT members will not sit back and see others within the same company being treated far more favourably than themselves."

The RMT team insists it is desperate to avoid industrial action. It is sympathetic to the serious disruption that strikes will bring to passengers.

But Mr Herschel says: "Arriva's actions have left the union with no choice but to act."

Talks to avoid the inevitable have, to date, been long, bitter and, ultimately, pointless. The union has been quick to lay the blame at Arriva's door.

A union newsletter tells conductors: "Just remember, this is a company that has undervalued you for far too long.

"The arrogance of the management team is beyond belief.

"What has happened over pay and conditions in this company is an absolute disgrace.

"Arriva Trains Northern lost the confidence of its passengers long ago - now it has lost the confidence of most of its staff."

Naturally, Arriva sees the situation differently. It believes it has offered conductors a fair detail.

But their package, which includes a three per cent cost of living rise and a five per cent productivity increase, has been rejected out of hand - leading to the first two-day strike. A second is due to follow on February 5 and 6.

Mr Evans said that industrial action was simply not acceptable. He believes the only way of controlling this spiralling crisis is to sit down and talk.

"If these strikes go ahead then we will be very disappointed and clearly very concerned about the impact on our customers," he said.

Market forces crop up again. "We have no difficulty in recruiting conductors. We don't have any problem retaining them. There is a national shortage of drivers."

So there it is. From both sides it is a fairly intractable position. The RMT is determined to get its pound of flesh, while Arriva bosses, for the moment, are refusing to give in. Whatever happens on Thursday and Friday, both sides say they are willing to, and must, sit down for more talks.

"We are available to sit down with the RMT to see what has to be the way forward," says Mr Evans.

"It is not acceptable for our customers across the North to have to suffer the type of disruption strikes would cause.

"There has to be discussion if we are going to resolve this issue."

Mr Herschel says: "We are waiting for the phone to ring."

Waiting for that call also are the thousands of rail passengers facing severe rail disruption.

Updated: 10:50 Wednesday, January 23, 2002