Rail employees are striking on three more dates this October, causing the greatest disruption seen this year from the industry.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers’ (RMT) union, Unite, the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association and Aslef will all be co-ordinating their walkouts over pay and working conditions.
This is a huge deal, as it’s the first time all four have walked out together.
Here’s what you need to need to know about the strikes, which are currently planned for October 1, 5 and 8.
Where are the strikes?
Different rail operators will be affected each day.
Saturday, October 1
There will be reduced services on East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, LNER, TransPennine Express, Greater Anglia, c2c, Southern, Great Northern Thameslink Gatwick Express and South Western Railways.
There will be no services running on Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Chiltern Railways, West Midlands Railway, Southeastern and Northern.
The London Overground network will be suspended, and some Underground services and the Elizabeth line will be hit too.
This is also the day before the Conservative Party conference starts in Birmingham, and the day before the London marathon where 50,000 people will run through the capital.
Saturday’s football matches will also be disrupted, as the equivalent of 11% of the usual services run.
Wednesday, October 5
Expected reduced services on Great Western Railway, Avanti West Coast, LNER, TransPennine Express, Greater Anglia, Chiltern Railways.
C2c, Southern, Great Northern, Thameslink, South Western Railway and Gatwick Express have all warned they will be busier than normal, but some trains will still run.
No service on Cross Country, East Midlands Railway, West Midlands Railway, Southeastern or Northern.
The London Overground network will be suspended again, and some underground and the Elizabeth line may be impacted.
Saturday, October 8
There will be reduced services on East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, TransPennine Express, Greater Anglia, c2c, Chiltern Railways, West Midlands Railway, Southeastern and Northern.
LNER is yet to confirm how it will be affected, along with Southern, Great Northern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and South Western Railway.
So – why are workers still striking?
RMT’s general secretary Mick Lynch told ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Friday that, despite several series of strikes over the last few months, rail employers are still not meeting the requests of their workers.
RMT, a trade union for railway, maritime and transport workers, say their workers are still wanting their pay to be closer to currently inflation levels, and are pushing back against job cuts and changes to terms and conditions.
According to Lynch, nothing has changed despite talks.
“We haven’t resolved the issues,” he said. “Grant Shapps [former transport secretary] said they were going to cut overtime on the railway.
“[But] they cannot run the railway today, when we’re not strike.”
He continued: “The railways at the point of failure, and we need a new set of people running the railway, we need a new deal for the passengers and the public.”
Lynch also pointed out, once again, that people at the top were extracting huge profits from companies while asking workers to give up their wages and jobs, as well as reduction in safety standards.
He pushed for a complete change within the industry, saying: “We need a group of people who can change that scenario and get a new deal for everybody who’s involved in public transport in Britain.”
What about the negotiations?
Lynch explained that meetings are ongoing, but none of the companies which can break the “deadlock” have made any new offers.
″They’re locked into a policy set by the department for transport and the treasury.
“We know there are problems in the government at the moment but there seems to be an inability from the people in charge of this country to set an agenda that will allow a resolution for these disputes to develop.”
Network Rail have offered a two-year 8% deal, no compulsory redundancy guarantee, other benefits and extras on the table.
But RMT dispute this, and say it’s a 4% in the first year, back-dated 2% the following year and 2% the year after that – an offer RMT members “rejected out of hand”.
Lynch claimed that working class inflation was far higher than the wage increase that the rail operators had offered – and inflation is only going to continue climbing.
He has pushed for a settlement to these disputes so “our members and their families can get a square deal”.
Ahead of the strikes Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail, said: “Despite our best efforts to compromise and find a breakthrough in talks, rail unions remain intent on continuing and co-ordinating their strike action.
“This serves only to ensure that our staff forgo even more of their pay unnecessarily, as well as causing even more disruption for our passengers and further damaging the railway’s recovery from the pandemic.
“Passengers who want to travel this Saturday, and indeed next Wednesday and next Saturday, are asked only to do so if absolutely necessary.”
