Between 2016 and 2019, major industrial action in the form of periodic strikes and protests took place on the national railway network of the island of Great Britain in the United Kingdom. The dispute centred on the planned introduction of driver-only operation (DOO) by several train operating companies, transferring the operation of passenger train doors from the guard to the driver. Later strikes also included disputes over pay rates, planned redundancies and working hours. NI Railways operating Northern Ireland's rail network did not strike. Some of the disputes continued into early 2020, and were resolved by negotiations during the pandemic without further action. Driver-only operation was however proposed again during the 2022–2023 United Kingdom railway strikes, leading to subsequent disputes.
Supporters claimed that DOO will save costs and shorten journey times, although opponents claim that the scheme is unsafe to passengers as drivers may not have as good visibility of the train doors as guards, who are able to step out onto the platform. Opponents also claim that the scheme could lead to hundreds of job losses to train guards, although several train operating companies have denied this, stating that guards will be redeployed to an otherwise equivalent role on board.
The strikes started on 26 April 2016, initially on Govia Thameslink Railway's Southern trains, and have since spread to eight more rail franchises across the country. The strikes were led initially by Mick Cash, general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT); the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) joined the strikes in November 2016, followed by the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) in January 2018. Opposition to the strikes was led by then Prime Minister Theresa May and Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling, who labelled the strikes as "appalling" and "palpable nonsense".
Background
In April 2016, Southern introduced a new method of door operation, with control of the doors moving from the conductor to the driver. Southern also proposed that, following the changes to the door operation, conductors would take on an "on-board supervisor role", which would let them concentrate on passengers more than doors, but the RMT and ASLEF described this as an attempt to make conductors unnecessary, and would also be unsafe. However, the rail safety regulator, the Rail Safety and Standards Board, said that "We have 30 years of data which we have analysed. We have found that the driver performing the task does not increase the risk to passengers at all." The BBC suggested that the RMT was particularly worried about the new method of operation because if trains could run without conductors any strike action they took would be ineffectual. As a result of this, the RMT and ASLEF unions went on strike over the changes, causing severe disruption to Southern services.
Industrial action The strikes began on 26 April 2016, as Southern conductors who were members of the RMT walked out on strike for 24 hours. Industrial action spread nationally across eight further franchises, peaking in the second half of 2017.
On 17 January 2017, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) announced that ASLEF had called off a three-day strike on the Southern network that was due to occur at the end of January. The overtime ban by ASLEF-affiliated Southern drivers was also suspended as talks were being held at the TUC between Govia Thameslink Railway and the union. On 2 February, the TUC announced that talks between Southern and ASLEF had in principle reached an agreement, meaning that the dispute with ASLEF had been resolved.
The Assistant General Secretary of the RMT, Steve Hedley, said of ASLEF that it was "scandalous other people think they can do a deal that affects our members" and that "we are not bound by that deal. The dispute is still on". The RMT met with Govia Thameslink Railway for further talks, but were unable to come to a final deal. The TUC-brokered agreement between ASLEF and Southern broke down the following month. When the proposed deal was put to a ballot of ASLEF's driver members on 16 February, it was overwhelmingly rejected, and industrial action resumed nationally.
CrossCountry
Industrial action by RMT-affiliated on-board train managers and senior conductors employed by Arriva CrossCountry began in late 2017, due to an industrial dispute over working hours, particularly in relation to staff rostering and Sunday working. At present, CrossCountry has no plans to introduce driver-only operation on its services.
CrossCountry staff went on strike for 24 hours on four Sundays at the end of 2017: 19 November, 26 November, 24 December and 31 December. Additionally, a 48-hour strike took place across the weekend of 9–10 December. Further strikes were called for 24 hours on 23 December and 27 December, due to what the RMT called the "shocking attitude of the company management" towards the dispute. During the strikes, CrossCountry operated a reduced hourly service on most long-distance routes between 9am and 7pm, with most services cancelled outside of these times. Local services across the Midlands did not operate.
Further strikes were called in early January 2018, scheduled for 48 hours on 20–21 January and 24 hours on 28 January. Following negotiations between the RMT and CrossCountry, the planned January strikes were called off on 11 January.
In late January, the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) threatened CrossCountry with industrial action after staff were offered only a 1% pay rise, compared to a 3.3% pay rise offered at other Arriva-owned train operating companies. Industrial action was planned for 26 January, but it was later called off as CrossCountry matched demands for an equal pay rise for CrossCountry employees.
Eurostar
On 29 February 2016, the RMT opened a formal dispute with Eurostar over concerns regarding staff rostering, particularly allegations of train managers being made to work alone on some sections of route, following an incident involving a female train manager being charged with gross misconduct after refusing to operate a service which would have resulted in her running a section of the route with no other Eurostar staff members on board. Eurostar train managers based at St Pancras International station in London were balloted for potential industrial action several months later, which passed in favour of full strike action.
Seven days of strikes were announced for two weekends in August 2016: for 96 hours on 12–15 August, coinciding with the Assumption Day public holiday in Belgium and France; and for 72 hours on 27–29 August, coinciding with the late August bank holiday weekend in the United Kingdom. The TSSA announced that it would be joining both RMT strikes for 48-hour periods, covering 14–15 August and 28–29 August. During the strikes, Eurostar planned to operate a mostly normal level of service, with eight services expected to be cancelled across the four-day first strike.
The first joint RMT/TSSA strike, scheduled to last for four days amongst RMT-affiliated staff over the Assumption Day weekend, began at midnight on Friday 12 August. Following progress made in negotiations on 12 August, the RMT strike was cut short, ending after only 24 hours at midnight on 13 August. The TSSA strike, which had not yet started, was cancelled. Following further successful negotiations, the second joint RMT/TSSA strike planned for the late August bank holiday weekend was cancelled; the dispute between the RMT, the TSSA and Eurostar has now been resolved.
In October 2016, the RMT released a statement expressing concern at the prospect of 80 redundancies by Eurostar, but no further action was taken in this dispute.
Govia Thameslink Railway Southern conductors went on strike on 26 April 2016. Afterwards, on 29 April, talks were held at the dispute resolution service Acas (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service), but this did not stop the strikes, and more were called. As a result of the strikes and a high period of staff sickness, Southern introduced an "amended timetable [that] would be a temporary measure until staffing returned to normal", with slightly reduced service levels, from 5 July. The RMT trade union said that 350 services would be cancelled every day in the new timetable; the company previously ran 2,242 daily weekday services under the standard timetable. The RMT denied that high levels of sickness were the cause of cancellations, while agreeing that there were an insufficient number of guards and drivers.
In November 2016, ASLEF held a ballot for drivers working for Southern on whether they wanted to go on strike. The strike ballot was initially suspended due to "technical difficulties", but when the ballot was re-run, drivers voted overwhelmingly to strike. As a result, on 6 December, ASLEF drivers started an indefinite overtime ban. ASLEF drivers at Southern went on strike on 13–14 and 16 December.
As the strikes would result in no trains being able to run on the Southern network, Southern's parent company, Govia Thameslink Railway, launched a High Court case in a bid to stop them, citing that they "breach customer rights under EU law". However, the court ruled that ASLEF could strike. On 13 December, the first day of ASLEF strike action, Southern took its case to the Court of Appeal, but judges upheld the decision.
The strikes by ASLEF were branded as "causing the worst rail disruption in 20 years" by The Guardian as all 2,242 daily weekday services operated by Southern were cancelled throughout the strikes. Thameslink services became much busier as a result of the strike, and other operators were accepting Southern's tickets. GTR and ASLEF held further talks at Acas, but no deal was reached, despite reports that "progress has been made" within the talks.
In December 2016, ASLEF announced that its drivers would be holding a week-long strike on the Southern network alongside RMT drivers from 9 to 16 January. On 4 January, three days of the planned one-week strike were called off, with the remaining strike dates being pushed back to the end of the month. The RMT's leader, Mick Whelan, threatened that "more strikes were to come", while Southern described ASLEF as "showing pure contempt for the travelling public".
On 5 January 2017, the Office of Rail and Road published a report into Southern's plans for driver only operation. The report declared that driver only operation on Southern services were "safe if conditions are met". As a result of the report, the government called on the unions to "end the strikes immediately", but Whelan argued that "the report does not give driver-only operation a clean bill of health".
On 11 January 2018, Govia Thameslink Railway announced that it had launched a legal challenge at the Supreme Court against ASLEF. The next day, the RMT announced that Southern conductors would walk out on strike on 23 January for 24 hours.
Greater Anglia
In May 2017 the RMT raised concerns over plans by Greater Anglia to close 57 of its 64 station ticket offices. On 17 July, the RMT announced that it would ballot Greater Anglia staff for potential strike action over the planned ticket office closures and the introduction of driver-only operation on Greater Anglia services. The ballot was later suspended indefinitely due to progress in negotiations. The next day, the RMT started an online petition to halt the closures. On 20 July, Clive Lewis, Member of Parliament for the Norwich South constituency, tabled a motion in the House of Commons raising concerns and seeking clarification over Greater Anglia's closure plans.