Rail union boss vows to topple Tories

RMT conductors on Southern are planning another five days of strikes in the next fortnight, and the most disruptive rail strike for more than 20 years is due to start on January 9, when Southern’s train drivers walk out for a marathon six days. The RMT has balloted for strikes 56 times in 2016 — equivalent to more than once a week — and as the industrial unrest spreads, videos have emerged of speeches made by Hoyle in which he suggests the militancy is part of a wider political campaign.

At a meeting in Brighton in September, Hoyle referred to a report in The Sunday Times that hard-left unions including his own were “co-ordinating to bring the government down . . . Shock horror. Guess what? We bloody are,” he said.

“Any trade unionist with any sense wants to bring down this bloody working-class-hating Tory government. That’s what we want to do. That’s what we’re about.”

The meeting was organised by the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN), a group run by Trotskyites from the former Militant tendency which works to “link up all the strikes” to “get the Tories out”.

As well as Hoyle, the network includes Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, whose members are due to strike for five days from tomorrow in an action which will close some post offices.

At an NSSN meeting last year, Ward described the network as being “at the core of what trade unionism must be about . . . We will play our part as a trade union in going beyond the law.” The NSSN has also been active in disputes at Heathrow, including a British Airways dispute earlier this year.

At a conference last month hosted by the Socialist Party, formerly Militant tendency, Hoyle spelt out how “rule No 1” for the union was to “strive” to replace capitalism with socialism. “That mustn’t just be empty words. I certainly believe it. I certainly try to do my best to push in that direction.”

In a YouTube video of his speech posted last week, Hoyle quoted Bob Crow, the late firebrand RMT leader, saying that: “If you spit on your own they just wipe it away. But if we all spit together we can drown the bastards.”

The RMT has held 22 days of strike action since April over Southern’s plans to change the train guard’s role to that of “onboard supervisor” — checking tickets and helping passengers but not opening or closing the doors. The dispute escalated last week when members of Aslef, the drivers’ union, held three days of strikes, closing the entire Southern network on each of the strike days.

At another meeting with a hard-left group last month, Hoyle admitted the dispute on Southern “isn’t going to hurt the company” financially, but “what we’re having to do is to make that political stance”. He went on to voice the union’s claim that plans to expand so-called driver-only-operated services on Southern, which involve the driver rather than the conductor opening and closing train doors, are unsafe.

It can also be revealed that:

•Aslef signed a deal with the company only eight months ago to allow driver-only operation of Southern trains when a guard was not available — almost precisely the issue it is striking about now

•More than half the trains which use the main line between London and Gatwick airport are already driver-only — with the unions’ full agreement. Of the 318 weekday trains 168, or 53%, operate without guards opening and closing the doors

•A woman had to learn whether an operation to remove cancer had been successful in a telephone call in the street because she could not reach her hospital appointment due to the rail strike

•Despite union claims that driver-only trains are “inherently unsafe”, only one passenger in the past decade has died while boarding or alighting from a train. The train concerned had a guard.

Hoyle is a long-standing hard-left activist and supporter of Momentum, the Jeremy Corbyn supporters’ group. He spoke at Momentum and “Southampton4Corbyn” meetings during Corbyn’s recent leadership campaign.

Rail boss’s £668,000 bonus

The boss of the company at the centre of the Southern railway dispute was paid more than £668,000 in bonuses this year, writes Mark Hookham.

David Brown, chief executive of Go-Ahead Group, waived an annual bonus but received £646,761 from his company’s long-term incentive plan.

He was also paid a £22,000 dividend from a deferred share bonus award made four years ago.

For the year to July 2 his total pay package was £1.3m, down from £2.1m the previous year.

Bradley Rees, 43, who commutes to London from Worthing, West Sussex, said the bonuses were “disgusting”.

Go-Ahead, which runs Southern through its Govia joint venture with the French firm Keolis, said the incentive award was for hitting “value creation targets” set in 2013.

The company also said it reflected the performance of the whole transport group, which includes a bus division.

@markhookham

https://twitter.com/markhookham Fog causes more cancellations at London airports

Thick fog caused a second day of disruption at London’s airports as flights were delayed or cancelled at Heathrow and Gatwick today.

Dozens of flights were cancelled yesterday because of poor visibility. More are likely to be affected this afternoon.

London City airport says it also expects delays and cancellations to its flights. The airports are advising travellers to check updates before travelling.

Luke Miall, a meteorologist at the Met Office, warned drivers to take care in the hazardous conditions. He said: “There’s no wind to help move it across, that’s why it’s persisting for quite some time. The fog was there throughout yesterday as well but it has become more widespread throughout the night. But I think as we go through the day we will see the fog start to move out.”