Merseyrail staff will strike again next month in the ongoing dispute over rail guards.
Transport bosses will remove guards from the region’s network as part of radical plans to introduce driver-only operated trains from 2020.
The bitter dispute has already seen a series of strikes across 2017, including two earlier this month, and fresh action has been called for November 8.
Talks between Merseyrail officials and the RMT union, who represent the 220 rail guards set to be affected by the company’s plans, remain at an impasse.
Mick Cash, the RMT’s general secretary, said: “Every single effort that RMT has made to reach negotiated settlements in these separate disputes with the different train operating companies over safe operation and safe staffing has been kicked back in our faces and we are left with no option but to confirm a further phase of industrial action in early November.
“RMT is in no doubt that it is the dead hand of the minority Tory Government that is interfering in these disputes to block negotiated settlements.
“It is outrageous that Theresa May and Chris Grayling are happy to stand aside and cheer on overseas rail companies that rip-off the British passenger to subsidise their domestic transport operations while throwing the guards off our trains.
“RMT is demanding today that the Government lift the central blockade on talks, allow us to negotiate freely with their contractors and give us the opportunity to pursue the objective of a guard guarantee that puts British passenger safety before the rank exploitation of our rail network by overseas operators who are laughing all the way to the bank.
“RMT stands ready for talks in each of these separate disputes.”