Eurostar Strike Suspended For More Talks

Strike action by Eurostar staff is to be suspended from midnight to allow further talks, the RMT union has said.

The union's members had started their four-day industrial action earlier today in a dispute over shift patterns and work-life balance.

A Eurostar spokesman said: "Our focus continues to be on providing a good service for our customers.

"We will continue to operate our revised timetable this weekend, which allows all passengers booked to travel to do so.

"We will operate a normal timetable over the bank holiday period."

On Wednesday it was announced RMT rail workers would walk out from 0.01am on Friday 12 August until 11.59pm on Monday 15 August.

They would also strike for three days over the Bank Holiday weekend from 27 August.

The union said the dispute centres around Eurostar's failure to honour an agreement from 2008.

This agreement was meant to ensure a good work/life balance for train managers, specifically regarding unsocial hours and duty rosters.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said on Wednesday: "Our train manager members at Eurostar have a heavy commitment to shift work and unsocial hours and are sick and tired of the company's failure to honour agreements."

The suspension of strike action comes just a few hours after the TSSA rail union made the same move in the same dispute.

Their train manager members had been due to strike on 14 and 15 August and 28, 29 August.

Meanwhile, RMT union staff at Virgin East Coast are set for three 24-hour strikes on 19, 26 and 29 August.

They say that almost 200 jobs are under threat, along with the practice of having a guard on every train.

Virgin Trains East Coast has reassured customers it will still run a full timetable during the strikes.

The union says around 1,800 RMT members are involved in the dispute, including guards, station staff and some drivers.

RMT members on Southern Railway have also been on strike this week over the role of conductors, and workers (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) .