Rail staff vote on strike action

South West Trains operates routes through London and the south-west

Workers at one of the UK's biggest rail firms are voting on possible industrial action over job cuts.

Six hundred supervisors, managers and booking clerks at South West Trains are being balloted over the company's plans to shed 680 jobs.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) union said it could lead to a joint walk-out with the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union.

South West Trains said TSSA was "out of touch" with current economic reality.

The firm operates routes through London, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Surrey, Dorset, Berkshire, Devon and Somerset.

'Big profits'

TSSA leader Gerry Doherty said: "We are not prepared to see jobs sacrificed and services cut just so Stagecoach can maintain big profits."

He said a joint walk-out with the RMT would halt services including commuter routes into London's Waterloo station.

The RMT is also balloting its members at South West Trains over industrial action on the same issue, with both votes ending on 17 March.

But a South West Trains spokeswoman said: "The action we are taking now will help us to protect jobs for the majority of our workers."

She added: "Any strike action will have the exact opposite effect of what they are trying to do - it will put further jobs at risk."

In a separate dispute, TSSA and RMT workers on rail operator c2c's Essex to London route are staging a 24-hour strike in a row over bank holiday pay on Monday.

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