HARD-LEFT RAIL UNION STRIKE TO PARALYSE BRITAIN
50,000 RMT workers plan midsummer misery — and Labour don’t condemn it
TUESDAY June 21 THURSDAY June 23 SATURDAY June 25
UNION barons last night vowed to bring the railways to a standstill after announcing their biggest strikes since 1989. The hard-Left RMT said tens of thousands of its members would strike on June 21, 23 and 25. Industry sources said calling action on alternate days would have maximum impact.
Shift patterns of key staff mean that the rail network will effectively be off limits for almost a week.
The RMT threatened many more strike dates if the dispute over pay and jobs isn’t resolved.
But Labour last night failed to condemn the move. A spokesman would only say: ‘Nobody wants to see this disruptive strike action, and it can still be avoided but it needs the Government, Network Rail, the operators and the union to
get around the table and find a deal.’ Travellers are already facing a summer of chaos at airports due to staff shortages and some airlines overbooking flights.
Heathrow-based British Airways staff are also threatening to strike next month in a row over pay.
The first wave of rail strikes threatens to disrupt key events, including the Glastonbury music festival, Armed Forces Day, the UK athletics championships and GCSE students sitting exams.
Rail chiefs were last night scrambling to put in place contingency measures which would see freight trains prioritised over passenger services to prevent power blackouts in some areas and ensure supermarket shelves and petrol forecourts remain stocked.
RMT bosses, which this newspaper has repeatedly revealed to have sympathies with Vladimir Putin’s Russia, were branded ‘dinosaurs’ for jeopardising an industry still struggling to recover from the pandemic.
They were also accused of announcing the strikes prematurely as formal talks over jobs and pay have only just begun.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: ‘It is incredibly disappointing the RMT have decided to take action that could drive passengers away from the rail network for good. The pandemic has changed travel habits – with 25 per cent fewer ticket sales and the taxpayer stepping in to keep the railways running at a cost of £16billion. We must act now to put the industry on a sustainable footing.’
Tory MP Greg Smith, who sits on the Commons transport committee, said: ‘This is our first proper summer of people getting back on and enjoying great sporting, musical and cultural occasions only to find that the summer’s going to be wrecked by dinosaur action from a different era.’
The RMT wants a guarantee that no compulsory redundancies will be made as ministers ask the industry to make £2billion in savings. It also wants pay rises for members in line with the RPI rate of inflation – 11.1 per cent.
RMT boss Mick Lynch said: ‘Railway workers have been treated appallingly and despite our best efforts in negotiations, the rail industry with the support of the Government has failed to take their concerns seriously.
‘Our union will embark on a sustained campaign of industrial action which will shut down the railway system.’
The June 21 strike will see 40,000 workers from Network Rail, which is in charge of infrastructure, and 13 train companies covering most of the country walk out for 24 hours. London Underground workers will also strike.
The 40,000 mainline workers will then strike again on June 23 and 25.
A senior rail industry source said last night: ‘It completely screws the network on the day of strikes and for most of the next days when strikes aren’t happening.’
The last huge-scale railway strike, in 1989 and also over pay, lasted six weeks.
‘Wrecked by dinosaur action’