Signals out in south Wales as workers plan strikes

RMT members will kick off strike action running from midnight on January 4 to midnight on Saturday January 9, the union has announced.

In addition union members have been instructed not to work unreserved overtime between Sunday January 10 and Saturday February 6.

The series of actions follows a previous six "rock solid" days of industrial action by RMT earlier this month.

Union mmbers are aggrieved by management's insistence that rosters and shifts must be fundamentally altered without consultation with the union.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow accused Network Rail of cost-cutting and demanding workers be at bosses' "beck and call."

"After six days of rock-solid strike action, which saw managers drafted in from England with a few hours' training to run the signalling with serious consequences for services and safety, RMT members are even more determined now to stop the ripping up of agreements and the imposition of new rosters that would wreck their work/life balance," he said.

"This dispute is all about money. Our members will not be treated as slabs of meat that the management can pull off the shelf when it suits them."

Mr Crow added that RMT remained available for talks but that "senior Network Rail bosses have refused point blank to negotiate a settlement to this dispute."

Regional organiser Phil Bialyk accused the employer of breaching a 1994 national rostering agreement by imposing the changes.

"The majority of signallers work a 12-hour shift over a three-day week," he said. "Members have grown used to this and have family commitments.

"Now the employer wants us to switch to an eight-hour shift over a five-day week."

Mr Bialyk was particularly sceptical of a new "fatigue index" which managers say is the reason for the changes in shift patterns.

"Members will still be expected to work 12 hours in case of emergencies," he noted. "Where is the fatigue index for that?"