Protest In Support Of Southern Guards

21 October 2016, 09:07

A national protest is to be held in support of Southern Railway guards in their long-running dispute over changes to their role.

Union leaders, rail campaigners and politicians will speak at a rally in Parliament on Tuesday November 1.

The event was announced as Southern services started recovering after a three-day strike by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union.

General secretary Mick Cash said: ``Earlier this month the Transport Select Committee exposed the ongoing shambles that is Southern Rail and the blind eye that has been turned by the Government to gross mismanagement of this franchise on an industrial scale.

``The Select Committee called on the Government to engage in talks with the company and the union. That call has been ignored.

``The demonstration and rally on November 1 will be a chance to show not only RMT's opposition to Southern's profit-motivated drive to get rid of guards on trains, but also to hear from those who will be most affected by the proposed cuts, including pensioners and the disabled.''