I'm sure that southern have said guards would be used in other roles on the train. If the unions were only worried about people keeping their jobs, they would be OK with it. But it is a health and safety issue which is why action is being taken.

To the usual suspects have come out with their anti union guff, I suggest they carry one of these...

From the aslef site. ASLEF: Why DOO is not safe

28 Nov 2016
Mick Whelan, ASLEF's general secretary, who is back in front of the House of Commons Transport Select Committee this afternoon, to talk about safety on Britain’s railways, is to tell MPs about the problems on the platform/train interface and explain why DOO is now inherently unsafe.
Giving evidence about the industrial dispute with Southern, and the failure of franchising, he told MPs:‘It’s been our policy for more than 15 years to seek to eradicate driver only operation. DOO was designed for three-car 317s on the Bed-Pan [Bedford to St Pancras] line in the early 1980s when it was all about managed decline at the fag end of British Rail. An increase in the number of passengers we are carrying every day means you have 1,100 passengers on a 12 car train and just two seconds to check 24 sets of doors and that’s simply not adequate to deal safely and properly with the travelling public.’
When Mick was challenged by MPs over why, if we think DOO is unsafe, we drive trains with driver only operation, he said: ‘The difference between us, and the DfT, and companies like Southern, is that we’re honourable. Where we have agreements we work to those agreements, even when we are seeking to change them because we think they’re inherently unsafe. And the industry is now catching up. DOO is not fit for purpose. There are blind spots all over the place.’

As for your last sentence. Unions haven't done anything for everyone. Really? weekends, maternity pay (ok that's only ladies), collective bargaining spring to mind off the top of my head.

30+years of anti union press has certainly had the desired effect.

Driver only operation is used far and wide and is perfectly safe. You couldn't have found a less objective source for your argument either.

Read what I wrote. They might have done something for you, but they haven't done anything for everyone. The majority of the working population look after themselves, and that number goes up every single year.

From the aslef site. ASLEF: Why DOO is not safe

28 Nov 2016
Mick Whelan, ASLEF's general secretary, who is back in front of the House of Commons Transport Select Committee this afternoon, to talk about safety on Britain’s railways, is to tell MPs about the problems on the platform/train interface and explain why DOO is now inherently unsafe.
Giving evidence about the industrial dispute with Southern, and the failure of franchising, he told MPs:‘It’s been our policy for more than 15 years to seek to eradicate driver only operation. DOO was designed for three-car 317s on the Bed-Pan [Bedford to St Pancras] line in the early 1980s when it was all about managed decline at the fag end of British Rail. An increase in the number of passengers we are carrying every day means you have 1,100 passengers on a 12 car train and just two seconds to check 24 sets of doors and that’s simply not adequate to deal safely and properly with the travelling public.’
When Mick was challenged by MPs over why, if we think DOO is unsafe, we drive trains with driver only operation, he said: ‘The difference between us, and the DfT, and companies like Southern, is that we’re honourable. Where we have agreements we work to those agreements, even when we are seeking to change them because we think they’re inherently unsafe. And the industry is now catching up. DOO is not fit for purpose. There are blind spots all over the place.’

As for your last sentence. Unions haven't done anything for everyone. Really? weekends, maternity pay (ok that's only ladies), collective bargaining spring to mind off the top of my head.

30+years of anti union press has certainly had the desired effect.

You, perhaps. Everyone, no chance.

Yes, hardly at all.

Not in a million years.

There are many victories that unions have won that benefit everyone.

Could you imagine how different things would be had there not been unions.

I suggest you watch the video on this page [Link]