Railway signal workers vote to strike over job cuts and safety
Railway signal workers vote to strike over job cuts and safety
Friday 19th March 2010
Railway signal workers have voted in favour of strike action in a row over jobs, the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union has announced today.The decision is a resulted of an ongoing dispute between workers and Network Rail.
According to the RMT 54 per cent of the union's members support the strikes, with a further 77 per cent in favour of industrial action which stops short of a strike.
The union's leader Bob Crow has claimed the union is giving Network Rail time to get back around the negotiating table to prevent the disruption.
If these talks do not result in a resolution being reached then the RMT executive will meet on March 25th and announce the dates of a strike.
If the strike goes ahead it would be the first national rail strike for 16 years.
The news of the possible strikes comes as talks continue between British Airways and trade union Unite, and is a further blow to the government as a May general election approaches.
Network Rail is seeking to cut jobs and change working practices to allow more maintenance work to be carried out at weekends.
Maintenance workers belonging to the RMT have already voted to on strike over the proposed 1,500 job losses at Network Rail.
The Conservatives were quick to condemn the proposed strike action. Shadow transport secretary Teresa De Villiers said: "As the country struggles out of recession the last thing it needs is a strike."
Mr Crow warned travellers against booking train tickets over the Easter period.
He said: "All the signs are that our signalling members are going to back taking industrial action and that will give us a mandate across the railways for strikes in defence of safety-critical jobs and safe working practices."
"Nobody should be under any illusions about just how determined RMT members are to win our fight against Network Rail's cuts programme and to stop this reckless gamble with rail safety."
"Our enemy at the moment is not the travelling public it is Network Rail."
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