Rail staff set to strike

Managers and supervisors at some of the UK's biggest stations are to stage a one-day strike in a long-running row over pay and conditions.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association said there will be a walkout by over 100 staff from midday on June 26 at 17 stations including King's Cross, Euston, Paddington, Liverpool Street, Birmingham New Street, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The TSSA said industrial action is likely to disrupt services and follows a 68 per cent vote by union members to strike after complaining that Network Rail is refusing to give a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies during a reorganisation.

Assistant general secretary Manuel Cortes accused NR of refusing to talk to the union despite the size of the strike vote.

He said: "The vote clearly demonstrates the anger of our members on this issue but Network Rail is refusing to sit down and talk to our reps about their genuine concerns. We understand this may cause disruption to the travelling public but the company has time to resolve this issue."

NR said: "Network Rail is proposing a new organisation structure for the 18 stations we manage to make them more effective and more passenger- focused. Strike action is wholly unnecessary as progress was being made."

It added: "Rail users should be reassured that full contingency plans are already in place and all essential roles can be covered during this one-day strike resulting in zero impact on passengers and train services."

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