Strike threat to Eurostar in run-up to Christmas

EUROSTAR staff are threatening to strike just before Christmas - the service's busiest time of the year.

British staff are taking part in a strike ballot because they say they have to work four out of five weekends because of new rosters.

Train managers, without whom Eurostars cannot operate under safey rules, have pencilled in 24-hour strikes for the Fridays of 12 and 19 December.

Two unions, the RMT and TSSA, are urging 100 managers to support the strike call. They expect "overwhelming" support with the result to be declared on Thursday, 27 November.

The unions say Eurostar has "sidestepped procedures" and "imposed" the rosters for Saturday and Sunday shifts. Under the new arrangements English managers "are doing 80 per cent of weekend working where before they used to do 50-50 with their French counterparts", the unions claim.

Gerry Doherty, TSSA general secretary, said: "No one wants to see services disrupted in the run-up to Christmas and the way to avoid this is to share equally weekend working among train managers on both sides of the Channel."