Le Shuttle hit by Christmas strike action

MOTORISTS AND lorry drivers travelling to the Continent face a Christmas of chaos after the drivers of the Channel tunnel shuttle trains voted overwhelmingly yesterday for a series of one-day strikes.

Aslef, the train drivers' union, said its members voted by five-to-one to strike in a dispute over pay and conditions. It said 24-hour strikes would be held on 23 November and on 2, 9 and 15 December. All four strikes will start at one minute past midnight.

Union members voted by 58 to 11 to take action. Aslef is seeking to boost pay from thebasic of pounds 17,200 to about pounds 24,000 through consolidation of payments and the working of extra hours at enhanced rates.

The strike was condemned by the freight industry and one member of the Road Haulage Association said it would make the task of crossing the Channel "harder than Private Ryan's".

Mick Rix, Aslef's general secretary, said: "We deeply regret the inconvenience which will be caused to the travelling public on strike days caused by the intransigence of Eurotunnel and their refusal to negotiate an acceptable pay award."

Aslef said a number of drivers had joined the union since the dispute started so that most of the 99 drivers of Le Shuttle trains were now members. The strike will not affect the Eurostar passenger trains from London to Paris and Brussels.

The Road Haulage Association condemned the strikes, saying its members would lose millions of pounds in business. Dan Hodges, a spokesman, said: "The mood among our members of exasperation bordering on desperation.

"It represents more significant and damaging losses. We cannot continue to have one of our major European gateways held to ransom in this way."

The Freight Transport Association said that about 2,000 trucks went across the Channel each day, of which about half used the tunnel. "This is a major inconvenience that the industry could most certainly do without, especially at what is now an extremely busy time of the year," said a spokesman.

"We hope they can come to some form of settlement with the employers."

Eurotunnel, the Anglo-French company that owns the tunnel and operates the shuttle trains, does not recognise Aslef but negotiates with staff through a company council, set up five years ago. A Eurotunnel spokeswoman said pay negotiations were continuing with the council.

A spokesman at the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions said the dispute was a matter for Eurotunnel.

t Tube travellers face disruption because of a likely strike by signalling workers in a dispute over alleged intimidation by management, a union warned yesterday.

The 30 workers, who operate signals on London Underground's Northern Line, have voted to take industrial action after complaining they were being intimidated and pressured, mainly by one manager.

Talks aimed at resolving the row broke down last night and the Rail, Maritime and Transport union warned that a strike looked "inevitable".

"The only way this dispute can be resolved is by removing incompetent, bullying management," said Bob Crow, the union's assistant general secretary.

According to the union, 12 of the 30 signalling workers, who are based at Euston, have asked the Underground's stress counselling unit for help this year.

The union's executive will meet next week to decide on strikes.