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DETERMINED strike action by more than 3,000 train guards has won significant concessions from hard-nosed train operating companies over safety. The success by the RMT union is a blow not only against 12 profit-hungry train companies (and behind them three transport conglomerates), but also against the government.

LEADING RMT activist Glenroy Watson has been downgraded from his job as a tube driver to a station assistant in what the RMT rail union sees as a clear example of victimisation. Glenroy, a driver on the Victoria Line, has been an active union member for 20 years.

OVER 3,000 guards on 12 train operating companies struck on Thursday of last week in the third day of action over safety called by the RMT union. The strike was again solid and highly effective, despite coordinated attempts by train companies, including those not involved in the strike, to use managers to scab.

GUARDS ON three more train operating companies have voted to join the campaign of strike action by the RMT union to defend safety. That brought the total number of companies involved in a strike called for Thursday of this week to 12. Delegates to the RMT's train grades conference in Manchester last week applauded news of the three latest ballot results and discussed the importance of the whole dispute.

CONNEX SOUTH East has imposed new rosters that threaten 90 guards' jobs. The move shows just what is behind the refusal of Connex and a dozen other train operating companies to agree to restore the safety role of guards. That safety dispute led to a strike by 3,000 guards in the RMT union last week. A further 24-hour strike is planned for next Thursday.

THE MOST coordinated strike action on the railway since privatisation forced train operating companies to cancel up to 90 percent of services across nine firms this Monday and on Friday of last week. Some 3,000 guards in the RMT union held two 24-hour strikes over a long-running safety dispute. Further action is planned for Thursday 17 April. Despite government support for strikebreaking, management on the nine companies admitted the strike's success.

GUARDS IN the RMT rail workers' union on ten companies were set to strike for 24 hours on Friday of this week and Monday of next over safety. "It is the first effectively national strike we have had on the guards' side since privatisation," says Alex Holden, a guard and RMT safety rep in Manchester. "The fragmentation of the industry means we have had to have a series of synchronised ballots." The companies are:

GUARDS IN the RMT union on ten companies are to strike for 24 hours on Friday 28 March, Monday 31 March and Thursday 17 April after talks failed to secure their safety role.

RAIL WORKERS in the RMT union on First Great Eastern have voted by four to one for strikes over pay. The strikes have been set for 17 March and 31 March after the company refused to treat all grades of its workers equally.

THE LONGEST rail dispute in British history is over. The RMT rail union reluctantly accepted an offer from Arriva Trains Northern for conductors and guards last week. "The deal will still leave us the lowest paid guards of any rail company in Britain," says one union rep.

OVER 5,000 train guards working for 21 companies are to vote on strikes over safety. The RMT rail union is calling the action after train companies reneged on a deal last year to preserve the safety role of guards.

CONDUCTORS ON Arriva Trains Northern struck three times over the Christmas period on 21, 24 and 31 December. The RMT members' fight over pay at Arriva has been running for almost a year. Strikers' spirits were high on the picket line at Carlisle the Saturday before Christmas. Some 20 pickets, out of a small depot, were there in Santa hats. "Being prepared to lose money at this time of year shows just how determined people are," one RMT striker told Socialist Worker.