Eurostar fails to shine

Following strike action by about 160 Eurostar customer services and platform staff at Waterloo and Ashford stations over the bank holiday weekend, the RMT rail union is to ballot its other 375 members in the company for industrial action.

The one-day strike on Saturday 28 August concerned Eurostar's system of salary banding, which has created pay differences of up to £3,000 a year for staff at Waterloo doing the same job on the same shift and with the same responsibilities. Ashford staff are placed lower in each band, so can earn as much as £8,000 less than colleagues doing the same job at Waterloo.

The union wants to replace this system with a set "rate for the job", and says that Eurostar has conceded this principle. However, the company's proposed new rates would leave most employees only marginally better off - and those with long service would actually see a pay cut. Furthermore, the issue of London weighting for Waterloo staff has not been addressed.

The new ballot follows the failure of management to deal with hours of work for office staff, travel facilities and other outstanding issues from the 2003 pay claim.

Eurostar "have let it be known that they are not prepared to negotiate, either directly or through the ACAS conciliation service", according to RMT general secretary Bob Crow.