On Wednesday November 30th, a British union representing transport workers announced that security staff at Eurostar will strike for four days in December, in the period leading up to Christmas. Eurostar’s security staff are contracted out to a facilities management company called Mitie.
Around 100 members of the RMT sectoral union will go on strike on 16, 18, 22 and 23 December, after a vote by a large majority in favor of strike action, the union said in a statement. The are demanding pay rises in line with the country’s soaring inflation. This strike will “severely disrupt” the Eurostar service in the run-up to Christmas, RMT said.
Eurostar security staff are essential to the running of Eurostar and it is disgraceful they are not being paid a decent wage.
Mick Lynch, RMT secretary general
Eurostar’s security guards are needed for the operation of the trains that run between the UK, France, the Netherlands and Belgium. “It is a disgrace that they are not receiving a decent wage that Mitie can afford to pay,” said Mick Lynch, general secretary of RMT.
“I call on Mitie and Eurostar to reach a negotiated settlement with RMT as soon as possible,” Lynch said. “We do not want to disrupt people’s travel plans, but our members need a pay rise, and this is the only way management will listen.”
According to Euronews, discussions between Mitie and the union are ongoing. Mitie promised passengers would be updated on any service impact. “Our priority is to “ensure that exceptional services are delivered as normal so that passengers are able to continue their journeys with minimal disruption,” Mitie stated.
These four days of strike action will be in addition to other walkouts on British rail lines. More strikes are expected to come. According to Eurnoews, RMT has announced more strikes at Network Rail and 14 other train operators on 13th to 14th, 16th to 17th December. Disruption is also expected to happen on the 3rd to 4th, and 6th to 7th January, 2023.
