Rail passengers face yet more disruption to their train journeys this week. Three consecutive days – 18, 19 and 20 August – will be affected by strikes on the railway network, with two impacting UK-wide services and one predominantly the London transport network.
But why are the strikes happening, and what have unions, rail companies and government said about the disruption?
18 and 20 August: Who is going on strike?
The most significant industrial action involves around 40,000 members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), who work for Network Rail and 14 train operators – incuding Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, Greater Anglia, GTR (including Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern and the Gatwick Express), GWR, LNER, Northern, Southeastern and South Western Railway.
The workers comprises a wide range of employees from cleaners and station staff to signallers and guards. They walked out in the first national rail strike for three decades on 21, 23 and 25 June, and will do so again on 18 and 20 August strikes now following after they failed to reach an agreement with employers on job security, pay and working conditions.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch says: “The rail industry and the government need to understand that this dispute will not simply vanish. They need to get serious about providing an offer on pay which helps deal with the cost-of-living crisis, job security for our members and provides good conditions at work.
“Recent proposals from Network Rail fell well short on pay and on safety around maintenance work. We remain open for talks, but we will continue our campaign until we reach a negotiated settlement.”
Added strike action is being taken by 2,500 members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA), mainly railway controllers, who will walk out 02:01 on Thursday 18 August to 01:59 on Friday 19 August and again from 02:01 on Saturday 20 August to 01:59 on Sunday 21 August, causing further disruption on top of the RMT’s widely impactful strike.
The TSSA union says: “At present there has not been any changes/improvements to the current pay offer for General Grades and Controllers from Network Rail. Suitable assurances from the company have not been received on job security or that proposed changes will not adversely affect our members.”
When are they striking?
Let’s deal with the RMT strikes first – because they will have by far the most wide-ranging effects across all three…
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