Industrial action has been disrupting the railway since April 2016 but now Aslef, the drivers’ union, will ask its members to vote to end the row. Aslef supported their action, and called a series of strikes that brought Southern to a standstill in December and January. While the RMT remains in dispute and has continued to strike, walkouts by guards have caused relatively minimal disruption on Southern in 2017. The Aslef general secretary, Mick Whelan, said: “The proposed agreement on driver-only operation means we will have a second safety-trained person on every train covered by this agreement, except in exceptional circumstances. “It is shocking that Southern and the government believe that drivers can be bought off in this fashion.

Source: The Guardian October 19, 2017 16:41 UTC