Tran strikes planned for the bank holiday weekend will now definitely go ahead.
Train operator First Great Western announced this afternoon there is no possibility of reaching agreement with members of the RMT union who plan to strike on Saturday through to Monday.
The union fears the role of train managers will be downgraded when new high speed trains are introduced in 2017 because they will no longer be operating the doors.
FGW spokesman James Davis said the union had been offered “everything it had asked for” but would not agree to a solution.
He said: “The RMT says this is about protecting jobs, services and safety. But in truth they've had a series of concessions on the table for over a month that won't see a single member of train staff lose their jobs, means more services not less, and is based on a method of operating trains that has worked safely across the UK rail network for decades. So if those three issues are dealt with, you've got to ask what this is really about.”
A spokesman for RMT said the union fears the role of train guards will be downgraded to "selling Mars Bars and bottles of Ribena".
He said: "The core safety role of the train guards will be downgraded as they will no longer be in charge of the door operating system.
"We've been here before and it is the thin end of a very long wedge.
"We think it will end up with them just selling tickets and doing a bit of retail promotion and the full time staff will be replaced with people on zero hours contracts."
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