RMT East Midlands Trains strike goes ahead tomorrow

Rail union RMT confirmed today that the second phase of  strike action on East Midlands Trains goes ahead from tomorrow as franchise holder Stagecoach stands accused of playing fast and loose with the normal talks process before they are dumped from the rail network in a row with the government over pension obligations.

The dispute is over EMT’s management’s failure to bring a meaningful resolution to RMT members’ concerns over Pay Discrimination and Contract issues. Staff have ended up caught in the crossfire of a bust-up between Stagecoach and the DfT and are being expected to pay the price for the continuing franchise chaos on Britain's privatised railways.

RMT has made every effort to broker a negotiated settlement the Stagecoach-owned company have given up on any pretence of serious management and are playing fast and loose with the normal talks process as they concentrate on extracting every penny they can before they are kicked off the railways in light of the pensions scandal.

As a result of the company tactics all RMT EMT Senior Conductors are instructed to take strike action as outlined below:

Members are instructed not to book on for any shifts that commence between:

•             00.01 hours and 23.59 hours on Saturday 27th July 2019

•             00.01 hours and 23.59 hours on Saturday 3rd August 2019

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said;

“Our members and negotiators are sick of being strung along and East Midlands Trains lack of commitment to deal with our concerns over contractual issues such as compulsory Sunday working, wage discrimination and other matters is a total disgrace.

"Stagecoach clearly intend to slash and burn their way through their remaining franchises in advance of getting banned from the railway by the DfT. It is an outrageous state of affairs.

“As a result of this cavalier approach RMT strike action goes ahead exactly as planned again from this weekend in order to force the company take the issues seriously and start acting responsibly.

“The union remains available for talks but after last weekends rock solid action no one should underestimate the resilience and ‎determination of our EMT members to see justice.”

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