New Round of Rail Strikes Predicted to Be Worst Yet
Both RMT and ASLEF unions taking industrial action over pay
Mick Lynch says his union’s members have no choice but to strike again. Picture: BBC
Railway workers will walk out across the country on Thursday 15 and Saturday 17 September in renewed industrial action over pay and conditions.
On the first day of the strike both the RMT and ASLEF are taking industrial action meaning that it is likely that services will be even harder hit than during previous strikes.
Over 40,000 RMT members from Network Rail and 14 train operating companies will take to picket lines. Among the operators affected are South Western Railway and Great Western Railway. The Gatwick Express will also be hit and London Overground services and some parts of the District Line including sections of the Wimbledon and Richmond branches due to their signalling being covered by Network Rail employees.
In a separate dispute, Arriva Rail London will also be taking one day of strike action on 15 September.
Negotiations between the union and rail industry have been ongoing but there has been no breakthrough with the unions saying Network Rail has not made any new offers since the last strike.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: "Our members have no choice but to continue this strike action. Network Rail and the train operating companies have shown little interest this past few weeks in offering our members anything new in order for us to be able to come to a negotiated settlement.
"Grant Shapps continues his dereliction of duty by staying in his bunker and shackling the rail industry from making a deal with us.
"We will continue to negotiate in good faith, but the employers and government need to understand our industrial campaign will continue for as long as it takes."
The RMT strikes will also affect the following services: Chiltern Railways, Cross Country Trains, Greater Anglia, LNER, East Midlands Railway, c2c, Northern Trains, South Eastern, Transpennine Express, Avanti West Coast, West Midlands Trains and Govia Thameslink .
Train drivers who are members of ASLEF – the train drivers’ trade union which represents 96% of the train drivers in England, Scotland, and Wales – will also walk out at 12 train operating companies on Thursday 15 September in a dispute over pay. The affected operators include London Overground and Great Western Railway but South Western has not been mention on lists provided by the union.
‘We regret that, once again, passengers are going to be inconvenienced,’ said Mick Whelan, ASLEF’s general secretary. ‘Because we don’t want to go on strike – withdrawing our labour, although a fundamental human right, is always a last resort for a trade union – but the train companies have forced our hand.
‘They want train drivers to take a real terms pay cut – to work just as hard this year as last, but for 10% less. Because inflation is now in double figures and heading higher – much higher, according to some forecasts – and yet the train companies have offered us nothing. And this for train drivers who kept Britain moving – key workers and goods around the country – throughout the pandemic and who have not had an increase in salary since 2019.
‘We want the companies – which are making big profits, and paying their chief executives enormous salaries and bonuses – to make a proper pay offer to help our members keep up with the increase in the cost of living. That’s why we are calling on the companies today to do the right thing – the decent thing – and come back to the negotiating table with an offer our members can accept.’
Last year, the median salary for train drivers was £59,189 according to the Office for National Statistics.
This follows on from earlier industrial action held on Saturday 30 July and on Saturday 13 August but this is the first strike being held during the working week . New deals have already been signed with a number of operators including MTR Elizabeth line and Eurostar.
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, has previously said it wants to give its workers a pay rise but added "to fund it unions must recognise that as an industry that has lost 20% of its revenue, we can either adapt or decline".
A Department for Transport spokesperson said, "For the ninth time this summer, union leaders are choosing self-defeating strike action over constructive talks, not only disrupting the lives of millions who rely on these services but jeopardising the future of the railways and their own members' livelihoods.
"These reforms deliver the modernisations our rail network urgently needs, are essential to the future of rail, and will happen; strikes will not change this."
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September 3, 2022