Members of RMT union will strike next week after talks over pay, jobs and conditions broke down
A planned strike of over 40,000 workers at Network Rail and more than a dozen train companies will go ahead next week, after the latest talks broke down.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at 14 train operating companies and Network Rail will go on strike on Wednesday 27 July in a dispute about pay, jobs and conditions.
Continue reading...Passengers advised to only travel if necessary as members of RMT at Network Rail and 13 train operators walk out
Crowds of holidaymakers are fretting about missing their flights as train delays have left them stuck at London’s Liverpool Street station, PA reports.
The Stansted Express normally leaves twice an hour from Britain’s third-busiest station, but strike action has reduced this down to one.
One man, who was returning to Sofia in Bulgaria after three days in London, complained that the experience was “stressful”.
Asked how much longer he expected to wait, the man - who had been stranded at the station for half an hour - said: “I don’t know, I’m just looking at the board, I hope not too long.”
RMT accuses government of ‘wrecking negotiations’ as operators and passengers prepare to face further disruption on Thursday
Train operators and passengers face more disruption on Thursday after talks between rail industry bosses and the RMT union failed to head off a second national 24-hour strike.
The RMT said talks had broken down on Wednesday without a settlement, and hit out at the government for “wrecking negotiations” in the dispute over pay, working conditions and proposed “modernisation” plans to cut costs after the pandemic.
Continue reading...At least five MPs defy Keir Starmer’s orders and tweet pictures of themselves with RMT strikers
Keir Starmer is expected to discipline at least five Labour frontbenchers who defied his orders and appeared on RMT picket lines on Tuesday in solidarity with striking railworkers.
On the first of three days of industrial action, the Labour leader had instructed his team not to appear alongside striking workers, in order to show “leadership”, amid fears of Labour being portrayed by the Tories as responsible for the RMT’s walkout.
Continue reading...Grant Shapps says government will not get involved in solving rail dispute as commuters face massive disruption on UK railways and London Underground
Guardian North of England editor, Helen Pidd, is reporting on the rail strikes from Manchester, where pedestrians have been wishing strikers luck as they pass.
On Monday, Boris Johnson responded to the biggest rail strikes in a generation with plans to break the industrial action by allowing firms to bring in agency staff, a move unions have decried as unworkable, unsafe and potentially breaking international law.
There aren’t any agency staff – we have seen that in other industries.