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THERE was a major breakthrough in the dispute at Merseyrail on Friday when bosses publicly conceded that they need to review their policy on driver-only operations (DOO).
A joint statement from the company and the RMT union, released by conciliation service Acas, acknowledged that the only way to break the deadlock between the workers and management is “by having a second safety-critical person on every train.”
The dispute, which has triggered over 16 days of strike action since spring 2017, forms part of a wider struggle against plans by many train operators to downgrade the safety-critical role of the guard.
Following an intervention by Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram, both sides agreed to re-enter negotiations in March.
They have now agreed to “identify, explore and assess” the guard’s role and will reconvene within the next week to resume negotiations with the aim of identifying a long-term resolution to the dispute.
