Avanti West Coast executives earn more than double train managers while covering strikes, union boss claims

Union is striking intermittently until late May in a dispute over pay for rest-day working by train managers

As around 80,000 Avanti West Coast passengers are hit by the second walk-out in a five-month series of strikes, the boss of the RMT union has claimed senior managers are paying themselves “double what our members would earn” for acting as train managers.

Three-quarters of intercity trains on the West Coast main line – connecting London Euston with the West Midlands, northwest England, North Wales and southern Scotland – have been cancelled as train managers walk out.

One train per hour is running linking the capital with:

• Wolverhampton via Coventry and Birmingham
• Crewe
• Manchester

No trains are running through to Glasgow, though a shuttle service is connecting Preston with the Scottish city.

North Wales, Blackpool, Wigan, Warrington and Edinburgh have no Avanti West Coast service.

Strikes are planned to continue on 12 January and every Sunday through to 25 May.

Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT, told BBC Breakfast that his members would earn only £250 for working an 11-hour shift on their rest days at the rate proposed by Avanti West Coast.

He said that the company’s managers, when working as “management train managers”, earn between £500 and £600– as much as 140 per cent more than regular staff members.

“Instead of paying our people a premium rate for working on their rest days, they have decided to pay their management grades much more than our members – up to double what our members can earn,” Mr Lynch said.

“Our members are meant to be doing that work.

“They pay themselves, in effect, as managers, double what our members would earn on those shifts.

“The taxpayer and the fare payer are being ripped off by management grades working at twice the rate for the job that our members receive.

“We would like managers to stop doing members’ work at twice the rate.

“We simply want an agreement on that so we can get an incentive for our people to come in on those days when they’re meant to be at home with their families.”

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: “When necessary we use or contingent managers to keep our customers moving.”

Train drivers working for the rail firm earn a flat £600 for working on a day off.

Ahead of the strike, Kathryn O’Brien, executive director of Customer Experience at Avanti West Coast, said: “We’re disappointed by the RMT calling strike action on 31 December and 2 January.

“Our customers will face significantly disrupted journeys as a result, and I would like to thank them for their patience and understanding.

“On the two strike days we’ll have a significantly reduced service, so customers with tickets for 31 December or 2 January are strongly advised to travel on alternative dates or claim a full fee-free refund. We remain open to working with the RMT to resolve the dispute.”

The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, has urged “the leadership of Avanti West Coast, which is currently a privately owned train operating company, to get back round the table with the RMT”.