There’s more misery on the way for London commuters. After last week’s strike on October 8, the industrial action isn’t going to let up any time soon as unions say they are ‘in this for the long haul’.
There will be additional strikes on October 22 and November 6, affecting RMT union members working at Avanti West Coast trains. The UK-wide strike is set to affect services in London.
And the RMT has just announced fresh strikes on November 3, 5 and 7. On November 3 the union has confirmed this will include TfL, potentially bringing London Underground and Overground to a halt. On other strike days it’s expected that only one in five trains will run nationally,
The newest strikes come after the RMT has accused Network Rail of doing a ‘U-Turn’ on a previous pay deal: a 4 percent pay rise this year then 4 percent next year, alongside other benefits like heavily discounted travel for employees and their families.
Network Rail, however, disputes this, saying that it offered a better deal to extend the guarantee of no compulsory redundancies by an extra year to January 2025.
Basically, it’s the cost-of-living crisis again. With inflation running at more than 10 percent, and set to rise, pay offers of 2 or 3 percent won’t cut it any more. Different unions are striking for different reasons, and the RMT is striking in response to an ongoing dispute over working conditions, job security and pay.
In a recent statement, RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said the strikes were ‘sending a clear message to the government and employers that working people will not accept continued attacks on pay and working conditions at a time when big business profits are at an all-time high’.
Still, according to the BBC, train drivers on average earn nearly £60,000 a year, much more than the UK average salary.
This strike will only really affect travellers coming in and out of London, impacting lines serving London across Network Rail.
Then on Saturday October 22 and Sunday November 6 RMT members who work on Avanti West Coast trains will strike, affecting routes from the midlands and the north into London Euston.
On November 3 RMT members who work for TfL will strike, affecting the majority of Underground and Overground services. We don’t know exactly which national lines the strikes on November 3, 5 and 7 will affect yet, but there’s expected to be widespread disruption on Network Rail lines across the country.
The RMT has confirmed that the tube will be disrupted on Thursday November 3. As for the other strike days, shared assets might mean some TfL services could be affected then too.
This is unlikely to be the end of the current climate of UK industrial action. The ongoing cost-of-living crisis is seeing workers in all spheres getting poorer and poorer as inflation outstrips any pay increases. Any breakthrough in talks to prevent the most intense disruption to date appears less likely after former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced his mini-budget on Friday September 23.
Even if companies do keep up with inflation, it might not help, with the Bank of England warning of the possibility of an ‘inflationary spiral’, in which businesses – including transport providers – transfer the cost of pay rises to customers, further heating the economy and driving inflation. So more strikes on the tube, trains and Overground look likely through the rest of the year and beyond.
All the details are here.
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