FOUR out of five RMT members on First Great Western have voted in favour of a strike in protest at what the union says is a lack of 'very basic assurances' about the new Intercity Express Trains, which are being manufactured by Hitachi.
The RMT is opposed to the possibility of introducing driver-only operation on the fleet, which is specified by the Department for Transport. The trains are being built with DOO controls in the cabs, but no plans to use these controls have been announced.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "RMT has made every effort to secure a series of very basic assurances from FGW over jobs, services and safety as a result of the introduction of the new Hitachi fleet and they have simply ignored us. We therefore had no option but to ballot all staff for action to force the company to take this issue seriously and the members have now voted decisively for action. That mandate will now be considered by the union."