East Midlands Railway conductors announce series of summer strikes

The RMT said some guards were having "inferior" contracts forced on them

A further eight days of strike action have been announced by conductors working for East Midlands Railway (EMR) in a row over contracts.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) has accused the operator of issuing "inferior" deals to some of its guards.

The 24-hour strikes are scheduled to take place in June, July and August.

EMR said it was "disappointed" with the action but did not anticipate much disruption to timetables.

The strikes are scheduled for eight consecutive Sundays from 27 June to 15 August.

It follows strike action over the same dispute on 16, 23 and 30 May.

'Lost patience'

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the new dates were prompted by the company's "continuing refusal to stop enforcing inferior contracts on some train guards in spite of the strength of feeling from the workforce".

"The patience of our members has reached its limit," he said.

"The union remains available for talks to resolve this dispute and the lead officer has cleared his diary to discuss all outstanding disputes."

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An East Midlands Railway spokesman said: "We are extremely disappointed the RMT has taken the decision to extend their strikes throughout the summer.

"At a time when the railway continues to benefit from taxpayer support and no-one has been furloughed or lost their job, this action damages our ability to support the East Midlands recovery from the Covid pandemic.

"We have robust contingency measures in place and will continue to run the vast majority of our advertised timetable on Sundays throughout the summer but we would encourage customers to check their journey before setting off."