The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, which represents 40,000 railway workers, plans to go ahead with a national strike on Tuesday
Britain is bracing for the largest rail strike in 33 years this week and more labour unrest is expected over the summer as unions demand higher wages to offset the soaring cost of living.
The strikes are the biggest to hit the railways since 1989 and they will impact millions of commuters. The job action also coincides with several big summer events such as the Glastonbury music festival and Wimbledon. The dispute has also forced Eurostar to cancel 41 trains from London to France, Belgium and the Netherlands over the next week.
Wage growth has become a major issue for labour leaders as Britain faces a surge in inflation driven partly by the war in Ukraine, which has pushed up the price of oil and many agricultural commodities. Inflation has been running at 9 per cent this spring and the Bank of England expects it to rise above 11 per cent by October.
“If we have to, we will strike, to protect public service workers and the public services we all depend on,” she told the meeting. “Are we going to sit back and let the liars, cheats and fraudsters in Westminster get away with saying they won’t give us a proper pay rise?” Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, confirmed that talks had not progressed but he called the strike needless. “Make no mistake, the level of service we will be able to offer will be significantly compromised and passengers need to take that into account and to plan ahead and only travel if it’s really necessary to do so,” he said on Saturday.
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