Tens of thousands of rail and pipe workers are due to leave later this month in what has been described as “the biggest industrial explosion in the UK since 1989”.
Union leaders are threatening to “shut down the system” in the wake of major disruptions to rail services and the London Underground, which will affect events including the Glastonbury Film Festival and the British Athletics Championships.
When do strikes happen?
The departure is due to begin on June 21, with more than 50,000 railway workers expected to strike, and services at Network Rail and the London Underground will be affected.
About 40,000 railway workers will then go on strike again on June 23 and 25, according to the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT).
However, union bosses said the action should affect rail services “for the entire week in which the three days of action are announced”. This is because trains may not be at the correct stations after exits.
Which railway operators will be affected?
Only one-fifth of the railway services are expected to operate during the three-day strike period. The interrupted railway services are:
- Chiltern Railways
- Trains for crossing
- Great England
- LNER
- East Midlands Railway
- c2c
- Northern trains
- Southeast
- Southwest Railway
- The Great Western Railway
- TransPennine Express
- Avanti West Coast
- Trains in the West Midlands
What are the workers striking for?
Railway workers voted to strike after a dispute with Network Rail over wage freezes and proposed job cuts. RMT claims that about 2,500 jobs are at risk and that workers have been subject to years of wage freezes.
RMT Secretary General Mike Lynch said of the action: “We have a crisis in the cost of living and it is unacceptable for railway workers to either lose their jobs or face another year of wage freeze.”
National Rail responded by saying that the union “must recognize that we are a public body and any increase in wages must be available to taxpayers.”
CEO Andrew Haynes said: “We cannot expect to take more than our fair share of public money, so we need to modernize our industry to put it on a sound financial footing for the future. Failure to modernize will only lead to industry decline and more job losses in the long run. “
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