Virgin trains East Coast staff stage one-day walk out

Workers on Virgin Trains East Coast have begun a 24-hour strike on Monday over a long running dispute over jobs and conditions.

Around 1,800 of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) members are involved in the dispute including train crew and a small number of drivers.

RMT union claims the measures would lead to job cuts and impact on working conditions and safety measures which ensure a guard on every train. Nearly 200 jobs are under threat by the cuts and remaining staff would be expected to cover the extra work.

"RMT will not sit back while nearly 200 members' jobs are under threat and while conditions and safety are put at risk by a franchise which is clearly in financial trouble. We will also not tolerate the cavalier attitude to safety that is now on show as the company mobilises its scab army of managers," said General Secretary Mick Cash.

Despite this Virgin Trains has reassured its customers that it will not disrupt services as it had contingency plans in place to run a “normal and safe timetable” throughout the day.

Managing director for Virgin Trains on the East Coast David Horne said: "We have worked hard to ensure there are comprehensive contingency plans in place and I want to reassure our customers that our timetable will be unaffected.”

Horne says the company are “extremely disappointed” with the RMT’s decision to proceed with strike action as they have “given assurances on each point raised by the union”.

"On Wednesday, we agreed to the specific concessions set out by the RMT, but despite this they have decided to go ahead with today's walkout,” said Horne.

Virgin Trains East Coast, which operated services between London, north-East England and Scotland said it was making changes to its “customer-facing roles”.

"Virgin Trains is making changes to customer-facing roles which will see a single person take responsibility for the customer experience on our trains. This will have no impact on safety, and will result in a better experience for customers."

"With our guarantees that there will be no compulsory redundancies, no impact on safety, and a full timetable in place during today's walkout, this strike is costing RMT members pay for no reason, particularly as the RMT has agreed to hold further talks with us later this week," added Horne.

The walk out is scheduled between 00:001 and 23:59 BST on Monday.