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| Southern conductors offered £2,000 to end rail strikes | Southern conductors offered £2,000 to end rail strikes |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The operator of the Southern rail network has offered conductors a lump sum of £2,000 in a bid to bring industrial action to an end. | The operator of the Southern rail network has offered conductors a lump sum of £2,000 in a bid to bring industrial action to an end. |
| Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has set the RMT union a deadline of midday on Thursday to agree to end strikes. | Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has set the RMT union a deadline of midday on Thursday to agree to end strikes. |
| It said conductors would also be asked to sign up to new on-board roles as part of an eight-point offer. | |
| Months of industrial action by the RMT and high levels of staff sickness have hit Southern services. | Months of industrial action by the RMT and high levels of staff sickness have hit Southern services. |
| Southern rail tweet angers passengers | |
| Last month, the RMT said workers would stage 14 days of strike action in the long-running dispute over the role of conductors on trains. | |
| Plan of action | |
| GTR said it has set out "a fair, clear and unambiguous" plan of action to the RMT to settle the 10-month dispute. | |
| In a letter to Mick Cash, the RMT's general secretary, it issued Thursday's deadline to agree to the deal and call off all planned strikes, with conductors then being balloted on the full offer. | |
| The company said if the terms were not agreed by Thursday, guards would be served notice letters terminating their existing contracts and inviting them to sign up to the new on-board supervisor roles. | |
| Charles Horton, the chief executive of GTR, said: "Everyone is sick and tired of this pointless and unnecessary dispute and we now need to bring a swift end to these strikes, which have caused months of misery for hundreds of thousands of workers, children going to school, family days out and retired people." | |
| He added: "We are going the extra mile and offering our conductors a lump sum cash payment to be paid just after Christmas, when they are getting on with their new roles. | |
| "The RMT needs to understand that this change is happening and we would prefer to work with them to ensure that it's achieved in a way that best protects the interests of our customers, our employees and the business." | |
| The RMT union is yet to comment on the offer. |