First Great Western staff vote to strike over August bank Holiday weekend

The action follows concerns raised by the union over the impact on staff and passengers from the introduction of the new fleet of Hitachi inter-city trains.

Members of the RMT union across First Great Western services will walk out for 24 hours on Sunday, August 23 and for 72 hours from Saturday, August 29.

Other union members who work on fleet maintenance will also strike on August 29 and 31.

“As a result we have no option but to put further action on”.

The industrial action has been announced by employees of First Great Western, the main rail provider of trains to and from Reading station during the event.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union will be taking part in the strikes, including over the Bank Holiday weekend later this month, after failing to reach an agreement with FGW over a number of issues.

Reading Festival (and its Leeds counterpart, of course) begins on Thursday 27th August, with most festival-goers travelling back on the Bank Holiday Monday morning. There was no service on the Weymouth-Westbury line and revised services on its other lines.

The union said the firm should postpone the launch of the service on September 12 so that further negotiations can take place.

This includes disputes over the proposed removal of buffet/restaurant vehicle facilities and plans to transfer door operation procedures from the guard to the driver. However, when similar trains are introduced on Virgin Trains East Coast the train manager will remain in charge.

‘This method has been used safely across the UK rail industry for decades.

There are going to be more strikes on Cornwall’s trains on one of the busiest weekends of the year. We have meetings scheduled with the RMT later this week.’. The trains, which are more powerful, greener and more efficient than the current fleet, will replace the existing 40-year-old trains on the route.