Major rail strike possible

Hundreds of workers in Scotland, Cumbria and Lancashire will walk out for 24 hours on July 6 in separate disputes over pay, causing chaos for passengers in parts of the country.

The Rail Maritime and Transport union also decided to hold a strike ballot among its 15,000 NR members over the "scandalous" treatment of workers.

The disputes involve 119 RMT members based in the area of the Grayrigg rail accident in Cumbria who have had their £400 Network Rail bonus withheld, and more than 400 Scottish signallers whose bonus has been docked after they went on strike earlier this year.

The Scottish workers voted by 186 to 116 to strike, a majority of 62%, while maintenance workers in Lancashire and Cumbria backed action by 184 to 37, a majority of 83%.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow told his union's annual conference in Edinburgh that Network Rail had acted "appallingly" and warned that workers' pay would come under increasing pressure every time there was an incident unless the union acted now.

"We have been trying to get management to reconsider their position but the bosses have said they will not talk to us. Our members have been treated appallingly by Network Rail. What has happened in Scotland means that any group of workers going on strike could lose their bonus.

"Our members have made it clear that they will not stand by and accept the blatant unfairness in the application of bonuses."

Mr Crow raised the prospect of rail strikes on the same day as industrial action by postal workers, who will walk out on Friday in a another row over pay. The 60 delegates at the conference unanimously agreed to ballot all 15,000 RMT members at NR, with a result expected in the next few weeks.

A strike by Scottish signallers will severely affect passenger services, officials believe. Network Rail chief executive John Armitt said: "On behalf of all rail users, we are angered and extremely disappointed by the RMT's plans for an unnecessary strike. Time and again, this union adopts an outdated and divisive approach to managing employee relations which will, once again, serve to punish and inconvenience passengers and rail users."