The staff of Heathrow Express, one of the most expensive train journeys in the world, today set out plans for further strikes over bosses’ £6 million spending cuts.
RMT union members are to walk out for 24 hours from midday tomorrow, with more strikes set for Saturday, over the cuts which it claims will hit jobs, pay and conditions.
Heathrow Express said it would still run a service between Paddington and the world’s busiest airport, and hit back that industrial action made job losses more likely.
Managing director Keith Greenfield — who is to work on the service during the industrial action — said: “We are carrying on almost as normal. We recommend our customers do likewise.
"The RMT has refused to engage with us in any meaningful way even though we would willingly consider making changes to our plans if they did.”
But the RMT’s acting general secretary Mick Cash claimed Heathrow Express bosses had “sabotaged talks aimed at resolving this dispute and have now issued the most outrageous and provocative blanket threat to start sacking staff if they don’t call off the fight for jobs and safety on this lucrative and prestigious transport link.”
He said the atmosphere on the train service had been “poisoned by an aggressive and bullying anti-union management” and warned: “it is about time that the airport authorities woke up to what’s happening on their turf and the damage that it is doing to Heathrow’s reputation.”
