Chaos after biggest rail strike in 30 years
Rush-hour commuters in the UK faced chaos yesterday as railway workers began the network’s biggest strike action in more than three decades, with a cost-of-living crisis threatening wider industrial action.
Last-ditch talks to avert the strike broke down on Monday, meaning more than 50,000 members of rail union RMT will walk out for three days this week.
Train and London Underground stations shut yesterday morning, forcing people to either work from home or find alternative routes into the office.
Hordes of people were waiting at bus stops on the outskirts of London shortly after 6am, but many gave up as services towards the capital carried on without stopping, already full.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he “deplored” the strikes, which he said evoked the “bad old days of the 1970s”.
“The people that are hurting are people who physically need to turn up for work, maybe on lower pay, perhaps the cleaners in hospitals,” he said. “I absolutely deplore what they’re doing today and there is no excuse for taking people out on strike.”
But RMT general-secretary Mick Lynch described as “unacceptable” offers of below-inflation pay rises by both overground train operators and London Underground that runs the Tube in the capital.
The walkouts risk causing significant disruption to major events including the Glastonbury music festival. Schools are warning that thousands of teenagers taking national exams will also be affected.
The strikes are the biggest dispute on Britain’s railway network since 1989, according to the RMT.
Rail operators, however, warn of disruption throughout the week, with only around 20% of services running during the walkouts while lines not affected by strike action still having to reduce services.