Rail staff are balloted over Christmas strike in pay row

Rail staff are being balloted today on whether to strike at Christmas over pay. The dispute at rail firm Northern is about extra payments to conductors working on bank holidays over the festive break. It is feared the strike could cause chaos for passengers using local services in Greater Manchester over the festive break.

Trade union leaders claim the firm is demanding that workers accept flat-rate payments, while profits have soared by £85.9m over four years. Bob Crow from the RMT union said: “The spirit of old Scrooge is alive and well at Northern Rail. “This is a company where the workforce has generated massive increases in profits and where the boardroom is awash with cash.

“While the Northern Rail shareholders are basking in the warm glow of record dividends, the staff are being left out in the cold. RMT is not prepared to sit back and allow that unjust situation to continue.”

Rail staff are balloted over Christmas strike in pay row : The ballot will end on December 20 and, if the conductors vote yes, they could walk out with seven days notice. A strike would be legally possibly on December 27, the first day that train services are due to resume after Christmas, and which is a bank holiday alonmg with the following day.

Mr Crow said: “I am calling yet again on the company to do the decent thing, recognise the hard work of their staff this year that has generated hefty profits for Northern Rail and pay them accordingly over the coming festive period.” The firm says bank holidays are classed as normal working days in conductors’ pay packets since they were ‘traded’ for other benefits during restructuring agreements several years ago.

Adrian Thompson, human resources director at Northern, said: “We have explained to the RMT that we will honour our agreed terms and conditions, but will not make any payments over and above those long-standing agreements.

“We do not think it is reasonable for the RMT to demand a new additional payment for these bank holidays. This is because the previous additional payments for bank holidays were traded for other benefits when the restructuring agreements were implemented.

“The RMT is picking and choosing which bits of the agreement it wants to stick to and then calling for strike action when Northern is simply keeping to the joint agreement.” For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today

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