Strikes to begin on 16 March after union rejects offers from train operators and Network Rail
The RMT union has announced further national strikes and wider action on the railways after rejecting offers from both train operators and Network Rail last week.
The union’s 40,000 members across Network Rail and 14 train operators will strike on 16 March. Train staff will walk out for three further days, on 18 and 30 March and 1 April.
Continue reading...Train operator Northern Southern failed to appear at community meeting in East Palestine, citing concern for their staff’s safety following disaster
Hundreds of residents of the Ohio village upended by a freight train derailment and the subsequent burning of some of the hazardous chemicals on board, have questioned officials over potential health hazards.
Norfolk Southern, the rail operator, did not join Wednesday night’s meeting in East Palestine – which was billed as an open house gathering with local, state and federal officials – because of concerns for their staff’s safety.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed. You can find all our politics stories here:
Rishi Sunak has welcomed Germany’s decision to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
There is more coverage of the German decision on our Ukraine live blog.
Continue reading...About 350 out of 900 seats normally left unsold on the first services between London, Paris and Brussels
Peak time Eurostar trains are daily forced to run across the Channel with hundreds of empty seats because border police cannot process passports quick enough.
About 350 out of 900 seats are normally left unsold on the first services between London, Paris and Brussels despite “huge demand” for the greenest form of international travel, Eurostar bosses said.
Continue reading...Companies have made a ‘final offer’ to union including pay rise of 9% over two years
The RMT has received a fresh offer from train operators, the union said, raising hopes of a breakthrough in the long-running pay dispute.
Talks have been ongoing in London this week with the RMT and the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), representing train firms, as well as separately with Network Rail.
Continue reading...Angela Rayner claims people in certain job categories could lose the right to withdraw their labour under Tory plans
Rishi Sunak’s new anti-strike laws would prevent certain job holders from ever being able to take industrial action, Labour’s deputy leader said during fiery exchanges in the House of Commons.
Angela Rayner promised on Monday that Labour would repeal the government’s anti-strikes bill, saying it was one of the most “indefensible and foolish pieces of legislation to come before this House in modern times”.
Continue reading...Industrial action over pay and working conditions has caused almost four weeks of disruption
The last day in the latest stretch of railway strikes has begun, ending a run of almost four weeks of continuous disruption caused by industrial action over pay and working conditions.
Only about one in five trains across Great Britain will run on Saturday as a 48-hour walkout by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union concludes, with no early morning or evening services and a pared-back schedule on main intercity and urban lines.
Continue reading...Passengers advised to travel only if necessary on Wednesday, although No 10 and Network Rail optimistic about reaching deal
• UK strike calendar: service stoppages in January
More disruption awaits commuters returning to work after the Christmas break on Wednesday, the second of five consecutive days of rail strikes.
Once again, much of Britain’s rail network will not be operating, with only about a fifth of trains expected to run, leaving only a skeleton service for commuters on some urban and intercity lines.
Continue reading...Chief negotiator says better communications could sway union members, as first of five days of rail strikes begins
A deal to stop strikes is “in touching distance”, the chief negotiator for Network Rail has claimed, as drivers and staff began the first of five consecutive days of national rail strikes.
Tim Shoveller, Network Rail’s chief negotiator, suggested the pay offer would not be improved but claimed that better communication of the deal would begin to win over union members.
Continue reading...Proposed law requiring 20% of rail service during strikes could extend across public sector including NHS
Unions are expected to take legal action against anti-strike laws being prepared by Rishi Sunak amid reports the curbs will be unveiled when parliament returns this month.
The legislation being looked at by Sunak would extend plans already announced by ministers to enforce minimum service levels on public transport – meaning 20% of regular rail services would need to continue during strike action.
Continue reading...Figure worse than predicted and head of industry body expects ‘more business failures’ in early 2023
The rail strikes have had a worse impact on the UK’s hospitality industry than expected – costing bars, pubs, restaurants and hotels £1.5bn in December alone – according to the head of the body representing the sector.
Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UKHospitality, said this had contributed to a “perfect storm” for businesses battling high energy bills and a cost of living crisis, adding this meant “undoubtedly we will see more business failures” in the next three months.
Continue reading...Delays and cancellations linked to 20 years of privatisation, rising costs and labour shortages worsened by pandemic, say experts
Rail passengers have been delayed or disrupted on more than half of all train services departing from 15 of Great Britain’s busiest stations in the last year, Guardian analysis shows, exposing what has been described as a “broken” railway system that cannot easily be fixed.
Experts said the figures – which show rail services in the north and Midlands as the hardest hit – demonstrated the impact of two decades of privatisation, which had increased costs and public subsidies, combined with labour shortages exacerbated by the pandemic.
Continue reading...Railways closed because of RMT strike while 1,000 Border Force staff in PCS union continue action
Here is a reminder of the upcoming strikes which have been announced by up until January.
Shoppers hoping for a Boxing Day bargain could face traffic jams as rail strikes bring train services to a halt, with the AA saying it expects 15.2m cars on UK roads on Boxing Day, with shoppers and football fans among those likely to travel.
Continue reading...Sympathy and irritation from public as thousands of RMT union members at Network Rail prepare to strike
Rail passengers were facing delays as they rushed to get the last trains before Christmas Eve services came to a halt, while Britain’s roads were braced for extra traffic as a result of the strikes on the railways.
People embarking on festive getaways or heading home for the holidays gathered on the concourses of major stations including London Euston and Birmingham New Street.
Continue reading...Aslef action falls between two 48-hour strikes by RMT, knocking out most trains for five days
Train drivers have called a fresh 24-hour strike on 5 January in the long-running dispute over pay and conditions on UK railways.
The action at 15 train operators by members of the Aslef union falls between two 48-hour strikes by the RMT union on 3-4 and 6-7 January, meaning most trains will be wiped out for five consecutive days.
Continue reading...People urged only to travel if absolutely necessary on last weekend before Christmas
Rail passengers face another day of reduced services on Saturday as thousands of Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union (RMT) staff continue a 48-hour strike.
People have been urged to only attempt travel if absolutely necessary on the last full weekend before Christmas, with only a skeleton service running and all train journeys ending by early evening.
Continue reading...Workers and labor activists criticize Congress after it blocked a strike by voting to impose a contract agreement
Railroad workers and unions are ramping up pressure on the US Congress and Joe Biden to address poor working conditions in the wake of the recent move to block a strike when Congress voted to impose a contract agreement.
Workers and labor activists in America have criticized that action for undermining the collective bargaining process in the US and workers’ right to strike.
Continue reading...Prime minister makes statement in Commons, saying he wants to abolish backlog of unprocessed asylum claims by end of next year
The Conservative MP Adam Afriyie has been made bankrupt after a judge in a specialist court heard how he owed around £1.7m, PA Media reports. A bankruptcy order was made against Afriyie, who represents Windsor, at an online hearing in the insolvency and companies court today by judge Nicholas Briggs.
This story, by my colleagues Heather Stewart and Rowena Mason last year, explains the background to this case.
We completed our enquiry into the impact of the ending of freedom of movement on the adult social care sector in April and submitted the report to government and parliament. We recommended that care workers continue to be eligible to apply for a health and care worker visa and made some additional recommendations for changes to the immigration system to ease the burden on social care employers and migrants.
However, our main recommendation was that a minimum rate of pay should be established for care workers at a premium to the statutory minimum wage where care is being provided with public funds. We suggested that this should initially be set at £1 per hour above the national living wage but expected a more substantial premium to be needed to properly address the crisis in social care recruitment and retention.
Continue reading...Rail bosses and unions also signal they will not budge, as RMT’s Mick Lynch says there is ‘no deal in sight’
Rishi Sunak has said the government is unable to shift its position on pay, effectively implying the only way for strikes across the railway and other sectors would be for unions to back down.
In comments to his cabinet on the first day of four weeks of disruption to train services, the prime minister said: “While the government will do all we can to minimise disruption, the only way we can stop it completely is by unions going back around the table and calling off these strikes.”
Continue reading...Royal College of Nursing says Steve Barclay refused to discuss pay at meeting on Monday; Welsh nurses to strike after last-minute talks fail. This blog is now closed
Pat Cullen, the Royal College of Nursing’s general secretary, told ITV this morning that there was no point talking to Steve Barclay, the health secretary, if he was not prepared to discuss pay. She said
What I’m saying … to the health secretary this morning, is if you don’t want to speak to me directly about nurses’ pay, we have engaged with the conciliation service Acas, they can do that through Acas, but our door is absolutely wide open and it appears at the minute that theirs is totally shut …
Fundamentally, I need to get to a table and talk to them about pay. This isn’t just me, it’s the 320,000 nurses that voted for strike action … They voted through an independent ballot that we carried out and surely to goodness you couldn’t look at one of those people this morning in the eye and say: ‘You’re not worth an extra brown penny’. In my mind they absolutely are.
I think it’s a very challenging international picture. About a third of the world’s economies are predicted to be in recession, either this year or next.
We’re no different in this country and truthfully, it is likely to get worse before it gets better, which makes it even more difficult when we have big public sector strikes going on at the moment.
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