RMT expects the strike to have “a major impact” as “train managers have crucial security responsibilities and can not easily be replaced agency workers”.
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Southern’s strike timetable, of 60% of normal services, remains in place and the company has said it is working to introduce trains on additional routes and “operate extended hours where possible”.
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.
Striking workers on a British rail network have called off the final two days of a strike that has disrupted the journeys of hundreds of thousands of commuters.
The strikes are over GTR’s plans to roll out driver-only operated trains, which would mean drivers operating the doors via CCTV, instead of conductors.
Southern, part of the giant Govia Thameslink Railway franchise, said Thursday’s service will be based on the present strike timetable, although it will try to add services.
The second strike will last three days, from August 27 through August 29, the RMT said.
“For our passengers’ sake we truly hope these talks will be productive and bring this long-running dispute to an end”.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said he had contacted Southern with a way forward to resolve the dispute.
“At present, the strike timetable is still in the industry train planning systems for Thursday and Friday”.
The reason for the interrupted schedule is a strike initiated by Eurostar’s United Kingdom union of rail workers, who claim that their work schedule negatively impacts their work-life balance.
The RMT has accused Eurostar of failing to honour an agreement reached in 2008 over anti-social hours and duty rosters for 80 “safety-critical” train managers. According to Cash, members of Eurostar’s union are determined to sit at the negotiation table until the company guarantees them a harmonious work-life cycle. On the days of the strike we have made some small changes to our timetable to ensure that all passengers booked to travel will be able to on those days. Passengers affected will be notified in advance’.
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Chris Grayling, UK’s Transport Minister, underlines that the repeated strikes are uncalled for and that their only result will be disenfranchising railway travelers of their mobility.
