Rail workers to strike

South West Trains says it is being blackmailed

Two 48-hour strikes by South West Trains staff will provide further travel misery for passengers in the New Year.

Some 2,700 South West Trains staff are to halt work in a row over a pay and conditions on January 3-4 and 7-8, the rail union announced on Friday.

Train crew staff from the Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at the company are also to hold a 24-hour walkout on January 8 in a dispute over disciplinary procedures against union activists.

The action is expected to badly hit some of London and southern England's busiest mainline commuter routes used by 350,000 passengers a day.

We will continue to seek a resolution to this dispute but we will not be blackmailed into sacrificing safety simply to avoid a strike

SWT spokesman

The RMT announced the action after rejecting an offer to improve basic pay of station staff because it was less than drivers had been offered.

Acting general secretary Vernon Hince said that non-driver members at the company were not prepared to be treated as second class employees.

Safety risk

He said: "All we want is a fair deal for all our members - which, despite our best efforts at the negotiating table, has not been forthcoming."

He said the train crew strike was because a number of union activists were being discriminated against, and this was not linked to the pay row.

But South West Trains said the strikes were not about pay, but about disciplining union representatives.

A spokesman said: "The RMT wants us to reinstate a train driver who we removed from driving because of his safety record."

Station staff were offered improved pay

"Despite the fact this driver was already on a final warning they want us to give him yet another chance.

"In other words, treat him differently to all other staff simply because he is a union representative.

"We are not prepared to gamble with passenger safety and do that."

She added: "We will continue to seek a resolution to this dispute but we will not be blackmailed into sacrificing safety simply to avoid a strike."