Entire towns and cities will be cut off from the train network next week as the strike closes half of British rail lines.
Great Britain will be left without any rail services on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday when 40,000 RMT members come out in a dispute over wages and jobs.
Network Rail confirmed on Wednesday that about 80 percent of services should be discarded.
Travelers were told not to travel by train next week, as the entire network will be paralyzed by the biggest strike in more than 30 years.
Tens of thousands of railway and tube workers are due to leave this month in what has been described as the “biggest industrial action outbreak in the UK since 1989.” The Railway, Maritime and Transport Union has announced that it will hold a separate strike on the London Underground and Railways.
Union leaders are threatening to “shut down the system”, and major disruptions to rail and London Underground services are expected, affecting events such as the Glastonbury Festival and the British Athletics Championships.
When are the strikes going on?
- Tuesday, June 21
- Thursday, June 23rd
- Saturday, June 25
Departure will start on Tuesday 21 June, with up to 50,000 railway workers on strike and services via Network Rail and the London Underground will be affected.
As many as 40,000 railway workers will go on strike again on Thursday, June 23, and Saturday, June 25, according to the RMT union.
However, union officials said the action was to affect rail services “throughout the week where the three days of action have been called.” This is because trains may not be at the proper stations after departures.
The TSSA rail union is voting on Network Rail staff later this month for a strike that could begin on Monday 25 July, around the time of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
TSSA Secretary General Manuel Cortés said: “We could be seeing a summer of discontent on our railways if Network Rail makes no sense and sits at the table to address the concerns of its staff.
“Big cat heads have so far rejected these completely reasonable requests, leaving us with no choice but to vote for industrial action, which is always a last resort.”
Which rail operators will be affected?
Only one-fifth of the main rail services are expected to be operational during the three-day June strike period. The interrupted railway services are:
- Chiltern Railways
- Background trains
- Great England
- LNER
- East Midlands Railway
- c2c
- Northern trains
- South East
- Southwestern Railroad
- Great Western Railway
- TransPennine Express
- Next West Coast
- West Midlands trains
The possible action of TSSA with Network Rail would have a wider impact on services. It has members in engineering, maintenance, supervision, control and management functions.
Why are workers on strike?
Railroad workers have voted in favor of the strike following a dispute with Network Rail over a wage freeze and a proposal for job cuts. RMT claims that up to 2,500 jobs are at risk and that workers have suffered years of wage freeze.
TSSA demands that there be no mandatory layoffs by 2022, no changes in terms and conditions unless agreed with staff, and wage increases that adjust to inflation.
RMT Secretary-General Mike Lynch said of the action: “We have a cost-of-living crisis and it is unacceptable for railway workers to lose their jobs or face another year of wage freeze.”
National Rail responded by saying that the union “must recognize that we are a public body and any wage increase must be affordable for taxpayers.”
Executive Director Andrew Haines said: “We can’t wait to get more of our fair share of public funds, so we need to modernize our industry to put it on a solid financial footing for the future. modernizing will only lead to a decline in industry and more long-term job losses. “