Eurostar passengers face disruption after workers vote to strike

RMT members voted in favour of strike action, claiming that their work/life balance was being “repeatedly undermined”.

British workers on Eurostar trains that run across the English Channel will strike for seven days in August, including a bank holiday weekend, in a dispute over work-life balance, said the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT).

“Our train manager members at Eurostar have a heavy commitment to shift work and unsocial hours”, says Mick Cash, RMT general secretary.

The lobby came as members of transport union RMT staged their third day out of a five-day strike action in defence of jobs and passenger safety.

David Horne, managing director for Virgin Trains on the east coast, said: “We have worked hard to ensure there are comprehensive contingency plans in place and I want to reassure our customers that the timetable will be unaffected, should any strike go ahead”. Passengers on affected services will be offered alternative bookings, it added.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers will be staggered by the hypocrisy of union bosses who, while playing at being class warriors, lead strikes which disrupt the lives of millions of people”.

We all know that everything concerning Southern Rail is a complete mess at the moment, and the latest strike wasn’t filling passengers with any hope.

A spokesperson for Southern said: “We are encouraged that the RMT has accepted our offer to resume talks at ACAS [the government’s Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service] and has agreed to call off its strike action”. A second stoppage is planned for three days starting August 27, which is the start of a bank holiday long weekend for the British.

The train operator, part of the giant Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) franchise, yesterday called for fresh talks with the union, saying it would meet members “any time, any place, anywhere” to end the walkout.

“This strike has to stop and has to stop now”.

No announcement has yet been made about services on Sunday or Monday.

Eastbourne’s Chamber of Commerce bosses wrote a letter to GTR last week expressing fears that hundreds of thousands of visitors to Airbourne, one of the highlights of Eastbourne’s entertainments calendar, would not be able to travel be train because of the strike action.