RMT sets strike dates in Central Trains disputes

Publication Date: July 24 2006

SIX DAYS of strike action are set to disrupt Central Trains services if last-ditch talks scheduled for tomorrow fail to resolve two separate disputes involving more than 1,000 members of RMT, Britain’s biggest rail union.

More than 570 senior conductors are set to strike on July 29 and August 5 and 12 in a dispute over the introduction of a 35-hour week, disciplinary issues, the supervisory regime and new technology

And more than 500 supervisory, station, clerical and retail grades members are set to strike on July 28 and August 4 and 11 in a separate dispute over disciplinary and new-technology issues.

"In both disputes we are facing what amounts to a breakdown in normal industrial relations, and in both cases our members have voted by a substantial margin to take action," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"We hope that the company will now acknowledge our members' frustration by starting to take their grievances seriously and approaching tomorrow's talks constructively," Bob Crow said.

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Note to editors: In the senior conductors' dispute, members voted by 196 to 61 to strike, and in the Supervisory and station grades' dispute members voted by 147 to 47 to strike.