Workers vote for industrial action during the Games
Commuters in Chiswick face disruption following a vote by workers at one of the country's biggest train companies to take industrial action during the Olympics.
The row between the railworkers' union and South West Trains is over a Games bonus payment.
Up to 1,000 members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union at South West Trains will work to rule, including a ban on overtime, from Friday, July 27, the day of the opening ceremony, to August 12, the last day of the Games.
Union members at the firm, which runs services across the South East into London Waterloo, rejected going on strike but voted for other forms of action. The union has been seeking a bonus for its members for working during the Games, but SWT insisted it had already agreed a wage deal which covers the Olympics period.
Union members working on the London bike hire scheme will strike for 48 hours from Friday morning in a similar row.
Hundreds of RMT members employed by Transport for London will also go on strike over the first weekend of the Games after failing to secure a deal over a bonus.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "Although we have secured good deals on Olympics recognition and reward for the vast majority of our members we still have a small number of employers holding out and refusing to offer either a fair deal or any kind of deal at all.
He continued: "We cannot accept that blatant unfairness and the time has come for these employers to seize the opportunity, get round the table and sign off agreements that recognise the additional work and pressures that these staff will be carrying."
July 23, 2012