Rail will stop again on Wednesday as workers strike over pay, job security and working conditions.
The latest talks to prevent the action broke down last week, a month after three days of strike action in June. The strikes involve more than 40,000 workers at Network Rail, 14 rail companies and members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT).
Transport for London services will be affected by the disruption as they use sections of track that are under Network Rail’s jurisdiction. There will also be a strike by members of the Transport Staff Association (TSSA) who work for the firm Avanti West Coast.
“Network Rail have not improved their previous pay offer and the rail companies have not offered us anything new,” RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said. “The Government must stop its involvement in this dispute so that the rail employers can reach a negotiated settlement with us.”
Today’s strike came after union leaders rejected a “minor” offer of a 4% pay rise for the remainder of 2022 from Network Rail and a possible 4% next year if workers accept changes to working conditions.
The strike clashes with the summer school holidays and Network Rail and the Government say it could affect the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, which start on Thursday.
After the strike was announced, Network Rail accused the union of walking out of negotiations and said the action could have been avoided. “It is now abundantly clear that their political campaigning takes precedence over representing the interests of their members,” said Tim Shoveler, Network Rail’s lead negotiator.
The Conservative government is also pushing ahead with controversial plans to allow companies to replace striking employees with agency workers.
The latest rail strikes come amid consideration of wider public sector industrial action as workers demand pay rises amid soaring living costs.
Last week, thousands of Royal Mail workers voted to strike in August. Lawyers across England and Wales staged a five-day strike earlier this month and around 40,000 RMT members, including Network Rail signallers and train staff, will strike for a further two days on August 18 and 20.
Conservative leadership hopeful Liz Truss has promised a further crackdown on unions in what has been criticized as “the biggest attack on civil rights” since the 19th century.
She said she would introduce legislation on minimum service levels for critical national infrastructure in the first 30 days of her premiership, which would cut back on teachers, postal workers and the energy sector.
“Truss is proposing to make effective trade unionism illegal in Britain and rob working people of a key democratic right,” Lynch said. “If these proposals become law, there will be the greatest opposition from the whole trade union movement to rival the general strike of 1926, the suffragettes and Chartism.”
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