The dispute involves Virgin Cross Country's refusal to honour an agreement over the introduction of the 35-hour week with no loss of pay. Virgin have tried to slash the Sunday rate by 6% and make Sundays a compulsory part of the working week, and have refused to re-enter negotiations on this issue, leaving RMT members with no option but to refuse to work on Sundays.

The strike action has decimated Virgin Cross Country Sunday train services, with the company utilising inadequately-trained managers to act as Guards on their trains on strike days and being forced to introduce a flat-rate £20 walk-on fare for all journeys. Despite advertising an "amended timetable" on strike days consisting of less than 40% of normal timetabled services, Virgin Cross Country Trains have been unable to deliver even this pathetic level with widespread cancellations and trains terminating short of advertised destinations.

In the last three years the government has paid out around £23 million in compensation to train-operating companies that lose revenue during industrial disputes, and the government has indicated that it intends to continue indemnifying employers with public money.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow described Virgin Cross Country as "cynically throwing huge sums of money at keeping services running on Sundays because they know that the public will eventually foot the bill.?

?The cost of settling our claim works out at less than £6 per shift, yet they are paying managers an extra £100 each to cover our members? jobs on strike days.

?They were so desperate last Sunday they shelled out for a cab fare to bring a manager more than 200 miles from Plymouth to Birmingham to take charge of a train.

?Anyone in their right mind will wonder why a company is prepared to spend several times more on a dispute than it would cost to settle it.

?But Virgin XC know that the public ? including people who never use their trains ? will be given the bill, and maybe that is why the Virgin board saw fit to overrule its own management and veto the settlement we thought we had reached last summer.

"RMT is ready for talks at any time, but Virgin XC are demonstrating a contempt for our members, for the travelling public, and even for the managers they are expecting to do our members? jobs on top of their own full working week,? Bob Crow said.

Dispute Update - Virgin XC Train Managers, Rates of Pay for Sunday Working

RMT Circular No: IR/035/06
9th February 2006

Dear Colleagues,

I again wish to applaud our VCX Train Manager members for the solid support for the ongoing Sunday strikes. I make this point, because I am fully aware of the disgraceful management propaganda that is being put around the job and through staff?s letterboxes.

This is only to be expected in a dispute situation. The information going out in the name of their Managing Director, Chris Gibb, is designed to demoralise and members must not let that happen. There is nothing new or clever in what Gibb has to say. It?s just plain nasty. I normally wouldn?t rise to such bullying tactics, but I believe some of the things he?s coming out with need to be challenged.

In his personal letter to all staff of 6th February 2006, Gibb has the cheek to quote from Virgin?s Equal Opportunities Policy accusing striking Guards of harassment and intimidation and all but brands them as criminals. Everyone, he says, has a right to work with "respect and dignity". He doesn?t apply these same comments to the managers he is using to work our members trains on Sundays and who, I understand, take great delight in telling Train Managers how much they are enjoying the extra money they are earning for Sunday working.

Virgin are paying these strike breakers £100 plus commission on a Sunday regardless of turn length. He says he can afford to do this as he is paying fewer Train Managers. I am making a note of this for the purposes of future negotiations. A £100 pound payment for a six hour minimum Sunday turn would be a good starting point and seems to be one that Virgin Cross Country can afford.

Whilst admitting they would prefer the services of their "experienced and committed Train Managers" Gibb tells us that the managers are "doing well" give or take the odd safety breach. The only problem is they appear to have a big problem with road knowledge and I am informed that a number of Drivers are being forced to act as conductors. Obviously, our ASLEF colleagues are not happy with this situation and the Drivers? Company Council have reported the situation to their Headquarters with a view to getting this stopped.

The lengths to which management are going to undermine the strike are extraordinary and I would seriously question the mentality behind them. Chris Gibb doesn?t deny the fact that huge sums, in excess of what it would cost to settle this dispute, are instead being spent to prolong it. In his latest rant about the strike in Virgin Trains News, he comes clean and states:

"How come we ended up with strikes over such a small amount of money? It was not just about money it was also about principle. We cannot go on paying a "little extra" every time the company is threatened with strikes."

I am at a loss to understand what the "principle" is that he?s talking about and can only conclude that it?s about showing who?s boss.

RMT has throughout sought a negotiated solution to the problem of Sunday payments. The fact is that Train Managers are being treated less favourably than other members of staff. When the Drivers restructured all enhancements went in exchange for an improved basic pay rate. Over time, ASLEF merely had to ask for the enhancements back and got them. When we ask for things we are told "NO!" That?s why we have to threaten strikes and carry this threat through when needs must.

Gibb paints the fact that the company refuses to negotiate with RMT as some kind of virtue. All we can say in reply is that we remain willing and able to talk anytime anywhere and we have repeatedly made Virgin Cross Country aware of this.

Incidentally, Gibb tried to confuse our members on the matter of the TOC refranchising situation. Despite our position being that at this time there will not be an aggregated ballot on the five demands across the twelve Train Operating Companies being refranchised, Gibb stated that he expected RMT to issue ballot papers in the next few weeks as if he were an elected official of the Union. This is not the case. RMT will be seeking assurances on jobs and conditions in the event of a TUPE situation arising just as we have successfully done on hundreds of occasions.

Clearly we are up against some pretty mean customers. But as I said at the start we musn?t allow our members to become demoralised. Management actually put it to our members that they "should think very carefully about whether your first loyalty should be to your Union or to your livelihood". I say you can?t have one without the other. Virgin Trains have proved that their profits are more important than their staff or the taxpayers they fleece.

In closing, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that a series of dispute meetings have been arranged across the country especially for the VXC Train Managers dispute. Please do all you can to ensure maximum attendance. Full details are given overleaf.

Yours sincerely

Bob Crow
GENERAL SECRETARY