RMT members vote for action in pay dispute at Virgin West Coast

RMT members have voted 9:1 in favour of both strike action and action short of a strike over pay at Virgin West Coast.

Of 1,793 staff entitled to vote, 1,463 voted, of which 1,334 answered ‘yes’ to the question ‘Are you prepared to take strike action?’. Staff voting included train managers, on board catering, station, clerical and retail grade.

The same number were eligible to answer the question ‘Are you prepared to take industrial action short of a strike?’. For that question, 1,462 votes were cast with 1,392 answering ‘yes’.

The union confirmed 24-hour walk-outs on December 15/22, and January 5/8/26/29.

RMT says the heart of the dispute is a “demand for a suitable equal offer for its Virgin West Coast members to that received by drivers”. The union claims VT has “agreed a deal for drivers to buy out their claim for a one-hour reduction in the base working week without loss of pay by giving an additional £500 on their basic salary, which is pensionable, whilst asking RMT to enter into selffinancing arrangements for other grades”.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said: “We have made it clear to the company that the inequality and underhanded approach of Virgin will be fought tooth and nail. We will not accept our members being dealt with less favourably than others.

“The message needs to get through to Sir Richard Branson on his luxury island retreat in the sunshine that those who are financing his lifestyle through their hard graft have had enough and are prepared to fight for justice in their workplaces.”

A VT spokesman said: “We are disappointed by the result of the RMT’s ballot, but can reassure customers that we will be able to run the majority of services during any industrial action.

“We have offered a 3.2% annual pay increase at a time when the average increase across public and private sector employees is around 2%. We remain open to continuing talks with the RMT.”