Bank Holiday Strike Action Friday 28 April on Northern Rail - I do not agree with this RMT union strike action which will affect passengers

Tomorrow the RMT has asked conductors to strike across the Northern Rail franchise, a move I do not agree with or support.
Northern has provided reassurance that they are prepared to offer guarantees on jobs and pay for conductors as they modernise the railway by 2020. However, the arguments have continued and clearly this is a strike aimed at maximising difficulty for passengers, which is an extremely unwelcome development.

The service will be running at 40 per cent of the normal timetable, with more than 300 additional rail replacement buses.

All services are expected to be extremely busy, with industrial action taking place on the Friday before the bank holiday weekend, and the first day of the Tour de Yorkshire cycle event, so please give yourself extra time to travel and consider whether your journey is necessary.

You can get more information on your journey here: journeycheck.com/

Disappointed that Heaton rail maintenance workers going on strike but should be no disruption to services

Rail maintenance workers at depots in Leeds and Newcastle are to hold a six-day strike in a dispute over plans to regrade their jobs. The BBC reports here:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26937967
that staff at Northern Rail's depots at Neville Hill and Heaton will stop work at 18:59 BST on Thursday 10 April until 18:58 BST on Wednesday 16 April.
The strike, by 42 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, follows a 48-hour walkout in February.
Northern Rail have said there would be "no disruption" to normal services, but I will update regular readers as and when I hear more. Everyone knows I support unions but I would hope that the parties will get talking and common sense will prevail. Northern have had trouble keeping a relationship with the unions -  and everyone in Tynedale will remember Torchgate, and not with fond memories. I am raising other matters with Northern at the moment, not least persistent overcrowding which constituents have brought to my attention, but this is the background to where we have been on employer / employee and customer relations; it is not for me to solve this dispute but I will leave constituents and readers to draw their own conclusions: http://guyopperman.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/torchgatethere-is-light-at-end-of.html