Last ditch talks ahead of week-long train staff strike

Last ditch talks will be held today ahead of planned strike action by East Midlands Trains staff, starting on Sunday.

Earlier this week, Unite, the UK's biggest union, announced that more than 80 engineering and maintenance staff plan to strike between 06:00 on Sunday and 06:00 on 4 October, in a long-running dispute over pay.

Union officials said its members are unhappy about the decision by East Midlands Trains to withdraw a 2.75 per cent pay rise following strike action by members in July.

Clare Burles, Human Resources Director for East Midlands Trains, said: "Unite's planned action is completely unnecessary. It clearly has no thought for the impact on employees' families of losing thousands of pounds in lost wages, particularly a few months before the run up to Christmas.

"The union action is particularly irresponsible after the very fair pay offers we have made and which other staff have been happy to accept. We have been flexible in putting forward further reasonable offers, but they have all been rejected by the union. More strike action will only reduce the amount of money available to fund a pay increase and hit the peoplewhose interests the union is supposed to put first.

"Our door remains open to meet Unite directly for sensible talks. We urge the union to think carefully about its position and understand that it needs to start considering a compromise to put an end to this illogical strike action."