Rail strike looming in UK after talks falter

LONDON — Britain is facing its biggest rail strikes in decades after last-minute talks between a union and train companies failed to reach a settlement over pay and job security.

Up to 40,000 cleaners, signalers, maintenance workers and station staff are due to walk out for three days this week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The strike is expected to shut down most of the rail network across the country, with London Underground subway services also hit by a walkout Tuesday.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport Union branded employers’ latest offer “unacceptable” and said “the strike action scheduled this week will go ahead.”

Secretary-General Mick Lynch said rail companies had “proposed pay rates that are massively under the relevant rates of inflation, coming on top of the pay freezes of the past few years.”

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the strike would cause “mass disruption,” with only about 20% of services able to operate.

Shapps placed blame for the strike on unions, which he said were resisting muchneeded changes to make the railways “fit for the post-COVID world.”

U.K. passenger numbers remain below pre-COVID-19 levels, and train companies, which were kept afloat with government support during the pandemic, are seeking to cut costs and staffing.

Unions have urged the government to get involved to resolve the dispute. They accuse Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative administration of standing on the sidelines so it can blame unions, and the left-of-center opposition Labour Party for the disruption.