New rail strikes could cripple network for a week

Further rail strikes will take place on 3, 5, and 7 November, the RMT union has announced, threatening to bring “a week’s worth of disruption similar to previous strikes”, said the BBC.

Network Rail said it had a two-year deal representing an 8% pay increase “on the table ready to be put to our staff” but the RMT’s Mick Lynch accused Network Rail of “dishonesty” in talks.

The union said that Network Rail had performed a “U-turn” on an earlier offer and “sought to impose job cuts, more unsocial hours and detrimental changes to rosters”.

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The news dashes hopes of progress in the protracted dispute, which has seen a series of rail strikes in the UK over the past few months. Just weeks ago, the transport secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, “offered unions an olive branch”, reported The Telegraph, by saying that ticket offices at train stations should not be scrapped completely.

Speaking at the Tory party conference, Trevelyan said that the “very last thing that the country needs right now is more damaging industrial disputes”. She insisted that plans to modernise the railways were “not about cutting jobs” but reflecting the fact more passengers now buy online.

That more pacifying approach came after months of strikes and threats. “The summer of solidarity we have seen will continue into the autumn and winter if employers and the government continue to refuse workers’ reasonable demands,” said Lynch.

Back in September, the i news site was reporting that strike action would “only compound long-running issues with ticket booking for Avanti West Coast customers”. The operator had announced in August that it would be suspending ticket sales due to “severe staff shortages” and cancelling many of its routes. Many Avanti tickets “are now not being offered until just days before the planned departure”, added the paper.

When announcing a previous walkout, Mick Whelan, general secretary of the train drivers’ union Aslef, said the train companies had “forced our hand”. Noting the rise in inflation, he added: “They want train drivers to take a real terms pay cut – to work just as hard this year as last, but for 10% less.”

The government said it is proposing a new bill to “keep Britain moving during transport strikes”. The Transport Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill is designed to ensure some transport services still run during strikes. It is expected to come into force in 2023.

“The government stood on a manifesto commitment to introduce minimum service levels. As we have seen only too often in recent months, it is wrong that strikes are preventing hard-working people and families up and down the country from getting to work, doctors' appointments and school,” said Sky News, quoting a government source.

Meanwhile, wrote the BBC’s transport correspondent, Katy Austin, the RMT has now begun a new ballot which, if members vote in favour, “may mean strike action continues into next Spring”, so “more misery for passengers could be coming down the track”.