RMT members employed by Carlisle Support Services on the Northern Rail contract have continued their long-running pay dispute with a 48-hour strike, which started on Saturday.

Carlisle Support Services bosses have repeatedly refused to negotiate a settlement through collective bargaining despite increasing demands being placed on front-line staff, the union said.

Pickets took place on Saturday morning at Skipton Station in North Yorkshire and at Manchester’s Victoria Station and RMT members also picketed the Manchester station yesterday.

Bosses recently claimed they had “honoured our agreement to implement an annual pay uplift in line with the living wage increase.”

But the rail union rejected this claim, with general secretary Eddie Dempsey condemning bosses for “attempting to present its Living Wage Foundation obligations as though they are the product of negotiations with RMT.

“Carlisle has sought to rely on a minimum commitment it already had while refusing to engage meaningfully with the union on pay.”