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British Eurostar staff to stage August strikes: union

The final two days were called off after the RMT offered to return to talks without any preconditions.

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It comes as the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union claimed GTR had rejected its offer to call off its five-day strike by conductors on Southern Rail if the company agreed to unconditional talks.

Passengers who plan to travel via train under the English Channel Tunnel should expect disruptions in the transportation schedule due to a seven-day strike in August.

“You and your colleagues are therefore instructed to return to work for all shifts commencing from 22.00hrs tonight”.

RMT’s general secretary, Mick Cash, said its train manager members are “sick and tired” of Eurostar’s “failure” to honour a work/life balance agreement made in 2008.

“For our passengers’ sake, we truly hope these talks will be productive and bring this long-running dispute to an end”, a spokseman for the firm said.

“We will update our website www.southernrailway.com as further information becomes available”.

Southern Rail said tomorrow’s rail services would still be affected by a pre-planned strike timetable, although it will try to add more services.

Speaking to Transport Network, bosses at the troubled railway line said that a proposed list of conditions for driver-only operations would have to be accepted by unions and that they would push ahead with the plans despite the risk of more strikes.

Members of the union are set to walk out from 0.01 on Friday 12 August until 11.59pm on Monday 14 August, and for three days over the Bank Holiday weekend from 27 August.

“This strike has inconvenienced people needlessly and I am glad to see the RMT sitting round the table”, he said.

Even before the latest action, Southern had been operating a revised timetable to allow for problems caused by previous strikes and unusually high levels of sickness among those at the centre of the dispute.

“It’s important now to leave the union and the train operator to undertake these necessary talks”.

It comes after the RMT said Eurostar rail workers will go on strike over two weekends in August in a dispute over work and life balance.

“Our members have every right to have a fair work/life balance that fulfils the operational needs of the company while guaranteeing quality time off for friends and family”, he added.

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A spokesman from Eurostar, which runs services between the capital and mainland Europe, said the company’s focus has been to seek a joint resolution with unions.

The beleaguered train provider which agreed to reopen negotiations on the third day of the walkout today ran just half of its services because the pre-strike timetable is still in place. Commuters are