Sheffield rail passengers voice support for striking rail passengers

Members of the union RMT walked out over the weekend and plan to every Saturday until February 16 as the long-running dispute rumbles on.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash RMT thanked the public for its '˜support and understanding', while Northern's managing director David Brown said the strike action was 'needless'.

And The Star readers were quick to voice their support for the workers on our Facebook page.

Paula Husband said: 'Thank you guards. We need you on trains.'

Mark Gilfillan said: 'Good for you stay firm.'

Steve Crandell said: 'Stay strong.'

David Mills said: 'Totally support the strikers. Northern cares not a lot about passenger safety and even less about disabled people trying to get on or off the trains, just greed, profit and more greed.'

Andrew Watson said: 'Good to see workers prepare to make sacrifices to stand up for what's right.'

Al Copeland said: 'Striking, I agree with. Northern are repeatedly isolating entire counties/lines whilst making provisions etc for others on strike days. That, is dispicable.'

Explaining the reasons for the strike, Mr Cash said: 'RMT continues to make every effort to get serious and meaningful talks going with Northern but the company are not interested and would prefer to fire off a barrage of misinformation about both the dispute and their intentions to deflect attention from the impact of their behaviour on the travelling public.

Mr Brown said: 'There is no reason for RMT to continue this needless strike action. The Department for Transport and Transport for the North have guaranteed that all current conductors will continue to work in modernised on-board roles on all trains to provide customer service.'