Railway workers who wear stickers supporting a campaign to stop the closure of almost 1,000 ticket offices are being threatened with disciplinary action, a union has said.
Members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) have been protesting outside stations across the country for weeks and urging passengers to sign petitions over rail industry plans to close most of the remaining ticket offices in England.
The proposals, which were launched with only a three-week consultation, are set to be challenged in the courts by five Labour metro mayors, led by Greater Manchester’s Andy Burnham, who say the changes have not followed due process and could affect thousands of jobs.
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, argues that the plans will modernise the railway and that staff will be moved from ticket offices on to station platforms, concourses and ticket halls.
Members of the RMT, who are campaigning against the proposals they say could “decimate” the railways, said that members wearing “save our ticket offices” stickers have been threatened with disciplinary action by managers at the state-owned train operator LNER.
Writing to LNER, the RMT general secretary, Mick Lynch, said the union will launch industrial action if any member is the subject of disciplinary action for wearing a sticker supporting the campaign. LNER, which runs from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh and Inverness via the east coast mainline, was taken back into state ownership in 2018 after its former owner Virgin Trains East Coast failed to meet promised payments.
Lynch said: “I have received very disturbing reports this morning from members at your company who are being threatened by managers with disciplinary action and being sent home without pay as a result of them wearing ‘save our ticket offices’ stickers.
“Threatening staff who are fighting for their very futures and for the services they provide in this way is a quite disgraceful tactic to use and I can advise you that any moves to discipline any RMT member for having a simple statement on a sticker will be met with a full industrial response.
“If a genuine and meaningful consultation process really is to be followed in this process, then surely this would include allowing the very staff whose future employment is threatened to voice their opinions.
“I would therefore ask that any disciplinary threats are withdrawn and that you will assure your staff their democratic right to have their opinion heard on this extremely important matter will be respected.
“I look forward to hearing from you on this as a matter of extreme urgency.”
A spokesperson for LNER said: “It’s an internal matter.”
The row between RMT and LNER comes amid a long-running dispute between the railway unions and the government over pay, jobs and conditions.
This week the union Aslef, which represents train drivers, announced another week-long overtime ban over the summer holidays, and train staff who are members of the RMT will take further industrial action on Saturday, causing more disruption for passengers.
