Strike by railway staff over sacking of colleague

RAIL workers are to stage a strike on Bank Holiday Monday in a dispute over the sacking of a colleague.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union on East Coast trains based at Edinburgh’s Waverley station will walk out for 24 hours.

The staff work as on-board train managers and catering managers on trains in and out of the station, including the intercity route to London King’s Cross.

The union is protesting the dismissal of Mark Doughty, saying he merely told passengers they could not have hot food on a journey to London because of a broken boiler and staff shortages.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “We are determined to right this outrageous injustice of a member fired for telling passengers the truth. The decision to take industrial action has not been taken lightly.

“RMT agreed to suspend the previous industrial action in good faith, in order to pursue a director’s review.

“However, the company failed to see this as an opportunity to negotiate and refused to contemplate reinstating our member.”

He said there was “not a shred of doubt that the dismissal was unfair and a travesty of justice”.

A spokesman for Virgin Trains East Coast said: “We’re disappointed at this decision to push ahead with action when more than three-quarters of staff affected didn’t vote for the dispute, and despite extensive efforts to bring this matter to a conclusion.

“This action would only affect a number of Edinburgh-based staff and our services will run as normal, so passengers shouldn’t be concerned.”