Rail workers set date for strike

[Steve]

Workers at South Eastern Trains (SET) are to stage a one-day strike on Monday 5 December in protest at plans to reduce booking office staff.
Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) will walk out for 24 hours after backing industrial action by eight to one.
The union claims 100 jobs could be lost if booking office staff are replaced with machines and opening hours cut.
SET has insisted there will be no job cuts and staff will be redeployed.
Thousands of passengers have objected to these plans and we are asking them to support our members Bob Crowe, RMT general secretary
South Eastern Trains runs services from London to Kent and parts of East Sussex It has 178 railway stations, not all of which are manned.
It wants to reduce some ticket office opening hours at its stations, or close them altogether. But RMT general secretary Bob Crow has said the plans were a "massive attack on jobs and services" and would leave stations severely understaffed for long periods.

'Talks in progress'

"Thousands of passengers have objected to these plans and we are asking them to support our members as they take action to defend their jobs and the services they provide," he said.
Earlier this month, the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) also voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking industrial action.
A spokeswoman told the BBC News website on Sunday that the TSSA had no plans to strike at the present time, and was still in negotiations with SET.
"We are optimistic that talks are progressing in the right direction."
However, she added that the TSSA was still keeping options for a strike open.