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.