By Passengers to face further travel chaos as ‘damaging’ strike action continues
Passengers travelling by rail are to face fresh travel issues on Wednesday, as thousands of workers make the decision to strike across the country affecting services nationwide.
The continued strikes are due to disputes over jobs, pay, pensions, and working conditions. There will be further action next month on the railways, and also the London Underground.
It is reported around one in five trains will run on Wednesday, around half the network, though some areas will have no trains throughout the day.
Picket lines have been forming outside various stations as the members of the Rail, Maritime, and Transport Union at Network Rail and 14 other operators take strike action. Passengers are being urged to only travel by train if it is necessary. Trains are also expected to be disrupted on Thursday, as a later start is expected.
The Transport Salaried Staff’s Association announced a strike on behalf of its Avanti West Coast members, members of the drivers union Aslef at seven companies will strike Saturday.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said union members were determined to secure an adequate result from the action.
“Network Rail has not made any improvement on their previous pay offer and the train companies have not offered us anything new.
“In fact, Network Rail have upped the ante, threatening to impose compulsory redundancies and unsafe 50% cuts to maintenance work if we did not withdraw our planned strike action,” he said.
Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, said in his three years in the position, that there hasn’t been a single day when unions have not been in dispute.
“Today, union bosses are once again trying to cause as much disruption as possible to the day-to-day lives of millions of hardworking people around the country.”
Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staff’s Association, said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps “appears to have gone on strike himself”.
Mr. Lynch added “The train operating companies have put driver-only operations on the table along with ransacking our member’s terms and conditions.
“RMT will continue to negotiate in good faith but we will not be bullied or cajoled by anyone.
“The government needs to stop their interference in this dispute so the rail employers can come to a negotiated settlement with us,” he said.
