150 Midland Mainline guards are scheduled to take their fifth day of strike action on Saturday following the company's continuing failure to agree a formula to end the dispute.

"Midland Mainline have had six months to settle this dispute, which is about the safety of our members and the travelling public," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"The company several times said that our industrial action is having no effect, but now they are saying the opposite.

"The dispute has lasted as long as it has because the company has continually failed to negotiate seriously with us, and it is their intransigence that has resulted in strike action.

"The union has made several attempts to break the deadlock, and the company now accepts that there are safety and security issues arising from staff working alone in the rear portion of a multi-unit train and not being able to contact the driver, the guard or the emergency services.

"It should not now be hard for Midland Mainline to sit down with us and find a solution to those problems.

"RMT fully supports Make Poverty History and on Sunday I will be joining the demonstration and speaking against the G8 in Edinburgh

"Our members have serious safety concerns every day they go to work and the company has known that for six months," Bob Crow said.