The RMT union said the walkout would involve about 12,000 staff, although the Unite union which is also involved in the dispute will not be striking.

The RMT claims bosses at Network Rail have "scuppered" negotiations on harmonisation of pay and conditions.

Network Rail has released a letter by Unite which said negotiations were "clearly still ongoing".

The RMT said 100% of its members walked out when a 30-hour strike over the same issue was called last month.

The two sides are in disagreement over the creation a single set of terms and conditions after rail maintenance work was taken back in-house from private companies four years ago.

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Urgent Communciation

Jul 25 2008

Dear All,

I am writing to draw your attention to a letter that ‘Unite the Union’ have sent out to their members which contains criticism of the RMT for taking action this weekend. The letter has been used by Network Rail to try and undermine the RMT.

Network Rail’s Director of Infrastructure Maintenance has emailed a copy of the letter to all his managers with an instruction to place it on all notice boards.

The company are even encouraging workers to visit the Unite website.

‘Unite The Union’ have written directly to their members so displaying it on notice boards can have only one intention.

The union purports not to understand why we are taking action but if its full time officers attended more of the meetings they would be in a better position to understand.

‘Unite The Union’ only have a small amount of members affected by harmonisation. The union has joint recognition with the RMT for workers in the Workshop grades. The RMT has the majority of the members in that grade. Whilst ‘Unite the Union’ may have its nose put out by its lack of influence and RMT’s success, it is not acceptable for a sister trade union to try and undermine our action.

We are writing to the joint General Secretary’s of ‘Unite the Union’ to relay our concerns.

Mick Cash
Senior Assistant General Secretary, RMT