Rail passengers in Britain are enduring the longest and most damaging series of strikes since the 1980s.
The bitter dispute involves the rail unions, the train operators and the infrastructure provider Network Rail. The first national strikes were called six months ago, and more have been called before Christmas and after New Year.
The dates for the next round of national strikes are 13-14 and 16-17 December, plus 3-4 and 6-7 January. Between the pre-Christmas and post-New Year strikes, from 18 December to 2 January, the RMT union will ban overtime.
On Sunday night, 4 December, the RMT rejected a last-ditch pay offer from the train operators, making it likely the stoppage will go ahead. It will constitute the biggest sustained industrial action on the railways since 1989.
On the same evening, but separately, Network Rail made a better offer to the unions.
So far this year the RMT has called 11 days of national strikes. In October three days of walk-outs were called off at short notice, but widespread disruption was still felt over the course of a week.
In addition, white-collar staff for many train operators and Network Rail plan industrial action, while Eurostar security staff have announced a pre-Christmas walk-out.
Separately, train drivers working for around a dozen rail firms – including intercity giants Avanti West Coast, GWR and LNER – have so far staged five days of national action.
Regionally, a range of industrial action from overtime bans to local walk-outs are causing further disruption, while Eurostar could be hit by a strike by security staff on the busiest days before Christmas.
What are the strikes about?
There are multiple disputes involving many employers:
- Network Rail – the infrastructure provider, running the tracks, signalling and some large stations
- Fourteen train operators, who are contracted by the Department for Transport (DfT) to run specified schedules.
Four unions are involved:
- RMT, the main rail union
- Aslef, representing train drivers
- Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), the union for white-collar staff in the transport industry
- Unite, representing some grades and roles in some train operators
But key elements are common to all the disputes:
- Pay, which the unions say should take into account the current high inflation
- Jobs, and in particular the prospect of compulsory redundancies
- Working…
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