Britain’s railway network this week faces its biggest strike action in more than three decades, in a row over pay as soaring inflation erodes earnings.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has said that more than 50,000 workers would take part in a three-day national strike, coinciding with major events including the Glastonbury music festival.
Schools are warning that thousands of teenagers taking national exams would also be affected.
Photo: AFP
The RMT argues that the strikes are necessary as wages have failed to keep pace with inflation, which has hit a 40-year high.
Jobs are also at risk, with passenger traffic yet to fully recover after the lifting of COVID-19 lockdowns.
Nations around the world are being hit by decades-high inflation as the Ukraine war and the easing of COVID-19 restrictions fuel energy and food price hikes.
The strikes are planned for today, Thursday and Saturday in the biggest dispute on Britain’s railway network since 1989, the RMT said.
The union has also announced a 24-hour walkout of its members on the Tube, London’s underground railway network, planned for today.
However, rail operators have warned of disruption throughout the week — with lines not affected by strike action nevertheless reducing services.
“Talks have not progressed as far as I had hoped, and so we must prepare for a needless national rail strike and the damaging impact it will have,” said Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail, which looks after the UK’s railway tracks. “We, and our train operating colleagues, are gearing up to run the best service we can for passengers and freight users next week, despite the actions of the RMT.”
The strikes are likely to compound travel chaos in the aviation sector, after airlines were forced to cut flights due to staff shortages, causing long delays and frustration for passengers.
Thousands of workers were sacked in the aviation industry during the pandemic, but the sector is now struggling to recruit workers as travel demand rebounds following the lifting of lockdowns.
The British government and the RMT were engaged in a war of words over the weekend, after RMT general-secretary Mick Lynch said strikes would go ahead as “no viable settlements” had been found to the disputes, but British Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps accused union bosses of refusing to meet for further talks on Saturday and instead attending a protest march against the rising cost of living.
Shapps said the disruption would cause “misery” and force hospital patients to cancel appointments, and pupils sitting exams would face extra pressures through having to change their travel plans.
“By carrying out this action, the RMT is punishing millions of innocent people, instead of calmly discussing the sensible and necessary reforms we need to make in order to protect our rail network,” he said.
“We absolutely need to have an understanding across the wider public sector that we cannot have inflation-busting pay increases” as it will cause further price rises, British Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke told Sky News yesterday.
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