$7,000 By a railworker BRITISH RAIL guards at Manchester Piccadilly staged an unofficial walkout last month following the dismissal of four union representatives who sought to uphold existing working agreements.
The stoppage - in apparent defiance of Tory anti-union legislation caused widespread disruption to rail services in the region, and further action is now in prospect.
The dispute has its origins in years of confrontation at the station, with RMT railworkers' union reps repeatedly forced to take on management highhandedness in a number of successful strikes in defence of On Thursday August 20, management broke a rostering agreement that had been reconfirmed only the day before. Bosses refused even to discuss the situation.
When guards remained in their mess room awaiting a union meeting, a manager arrived with dismissal notices in his pocket and handed them to the reps.
The immediate response bought almost all trains in the area to a standstill that evening and throughout the following day.
This action was reluctantly called off at an angry meeting on Friday 21, after promises of a ballot for official action which subsequently produced a two day strike is planned for Friday, September 11.
Leaflets have been produced to inform all railworkers in Manchester what is going on, and visits arranged to other parts of the country to put over the guards' case.
'The stakes in this dispute are massive for railworkers, one of the guards told Socialist Outlook. "This is a determined attempt by management to break one of the best organised and best led departmentsin the area.
'Success here will leave other sections of BR workers and their reps exposed to attack. If management do not back off quickly, RMT will hopefully expand the official action.'