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Around 500 guards at First Great Western (FGW) will strike on Sunday 20 and Monday 21 January.
The Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union warned there could be further action as it agreed to ballot all of its members at FGW. Drivers have also voted to strike, but no action has been announced.
One of the issues is the operator”s use of managers to do the work of guards and drivers when it is short-staffed, particularly on Sundays. But there is also a general concern ”over a breakdown in industrial relations,” said an RMT statement.
”We have agreed to put in place a ballot of more than 1,500 RMT members in all other grades across the company and to urge them to vote for action in furtherance of the dispute,” said RMT general secretary Bob Crow.
Any more strikes probably would not happen for at least a month, however.
A FGW statement said: ”We”re very disappointed that RMT guards have decided to take industrial action.
”At the heart of this dispute is Sunday working. We believe RMT members have a commitment to work some Sundays. However the RMT believes guards can choose not to attend on Sundays.
”As a seven-day-a-week operation we need to be able to provide a dependable service for customers. To achieve this we have as a last resort used fully-qualified safety trained managers working as guards to crew trains.”
The two parties are meeting today, and FGW said it ”wants to keep working with the union” and is ”very open to finding a realistic solution.”
An RMT spokesman said: ”Occasional use of managers has turned into a matter of routine. I”m sure they do have a problem with being short-staffed, but in that case you take on more staff. Bearing in mind FGW”s huge fare increases, you”d think they could do it.
”We want them to sit down round the table and talk to us about the problem, and negotiate. There may be progress made today but I don”t have a crystal ball. It depends what they come up with. It may be the case that if they”re now willing to talk, it”s an example of the effect a strike ballot has on an employer.”
FGW would not comment on the likely outcome of the ongoing talks, but said it may have something later on today or next week about possible service alterations.