Talks fail to resolve union dispute with South Western Railway
Talks aimed at averting more strikes by rail workers in the bitter dispute over the role of guards have ended without agreement.
Managers from South Western Railway met officials of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union in a bid to resolve the row.
The company said the talks failed to reach a resolution.
RMT members have staged three 24-hour strikes in the past few days, causing disruption to services.
i We have been notified by the RMT union that it intends to hold six 24-hour strikes and one 48-hour strike between 26 July and 01 September 2018. An amended timetable will be in operation- please see: https://t.co/rzPhj2zzof for more information and check before you travel. pic.twitter.com/Xo0WFbW2fq
-- SWR Help (@SW_Help) July 25, 2018
Further 24-hour strikes are set to be held on the next three Saturdays, followed by a 48-hour stoppage from August 31.
SWR said in a statement: "We are disappointed that despite our best efforts today's talks with the RMT have failed to reach a resolution.
"We had hoped that by mirroring the wording of the agreement reached recently with Greater Anglia we could end this damaging dispute for the sake of our passengers and employees.
"However the RMT has refused to accept on SWR what they have accepted on Greater Anglia.
"Despite again giving assurances that we will roster a guard on all our services, including the new suburban fleet to be introduced in 2019, the union refused to agree to some flexibility during disruption, as they have with Greater Anglia."
