WORKERS on Virgin Trains East Coast are to stage a 24-hour strike next week in a row over jobs and conditions.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union will walk out on October 3.

The union suspended industrial action in the summer but the dispute remains unresolved.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “RMT will not sit back while nearly 200 members’ jobs are under threat and while conditions and safety are put at risk by a franchise which is clearly in financial trouble.

“The union suspended an earlier programme of action when it looked like serious progress was being made in talks, but that process has now failed to reach a satisfactory conclusion and we are back into industrial action as a result.

“We have been shocked at the way the company have led us up the garden path when we entered talks in good faith. Our representatives are rightly angry at this cavalier approach.”

Virgin Trains said it will run a full timetable during the strike.

The company said it was making changes to customer-facing roles which will see a single person take responsibility for the “customer experience”, adding: “This will have no impact on safety, and will result in a better experience for customers.

“Virgin Trains has also given assurances on each point raised by the union at the start of the dispute - such as ruling out any compulsory redundancies as a result of the changes.”

David Horne, managing director for Virgin Trains on the East Coast, said: “We have worked hard to ensure there are comprehensive contingency plans in place and I want to reassure our customers that our timetable will be unaffected during these walkouts, as well as during any subsequent strikes by the RMT. The changes we are making are part of the customer-centric revolution we have planned for the East Coast.”