The workers on one of the UK’s most extensive railway networks, Arriva Cross Country, will now launch a month long campaign of industrial action. Many things will now be refused by the staff, including things like picking up litter from the trains.

The staff that works with Arriva Cross Country, which covers more than 100 stations and 1,400 miles of railway from Aberdeen to Penzance, Bournemouth to Manchester and even Stansted to Cardiff, will be banning things like overtime and will even take other forms of actions just short of a strike.

The Rail Maritime and Transport union said that all of its members were expected to support this action, which is being started because of problems with conditions and pay.

The general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union, Bob Crow, said that he expects the event to have an almost immediate impact. This goes double for the action of not keeping the trains tidy. The company goes on to say that the union had been attempting to re-negotiate a two year pay agreement that was signed last August.

A spokesperson for Arriva Cross Country said that they are prepared to consider demands to raise pay on and above the agreed pay rate, but only if Rail Maritime and Transport union can agree on changes in the working arrangements that will help to fund such an increase.

They also noted that Rail Maritime and Transport is going to impose an overtime ban, which they do not believe will have a very significant effect on their services at all. Arriva Cross Country continues to engage in discussions with union representatives to help resolve the dispute.