Rail strike ballot
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• Rail drivers' union ASLEF has predicted that next month's closure of Speedlink will lead to an extra 11,000 loads a day being switched back to road.
The union fears that up to 1,000 drivers could lose their jobs and is balloting its members on industrial action against Speedlink's closure. Action could include a series of one-day strikes or a ban on overtime.
ASLEF made the decision to ballot members at its Blackpool conference held this week. "Delegates believe the Trans port Secretary has contradicted himself by talking about switching freight from road to rail while at the same time chopping Speedlink," says Lew Adams, ASLEF's assistant generalsecretary.
Adams says that ASLEF will continue to lobby MPs and British Rail management to protest against the closure of Speedlink, which shuts on 8July.
The Railfreight Users Group says it is "not sure if strike action is the answer'.
The Freight Transport As sociation says it is concerned at the "effects of industrial action at a time when British Rail needs to restore the confidence of the freight customers".
"Speedlink was a labour-intensive system and this must have contributed to its losses and Railfreight's decision to close it," says an RUG spokeswoman.
Haulage group Isis will make 12 employees redundant when its Speedlink depots in Scotland and Avonmouth close on 6July.