Rail union expands UK strikes to include 14 train operators

UK rail strikes next month will be expanded to include 14 train operating companies in addition to track owner Network Rail Ltd., the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers said.

The walkouts will take place on Nov. 3 and Nov. 5, the RMT said in a statement Wednesday, a day after announcing industrial action at Network Rail for the same two days and Nov. 7.

Britons have already endured months of turmoil on the railway as unions seek to pressure employers into a pay deal matching inflation while also seeking guarantees against redundancies and wholesale changes to working hours. The RMT said it was calling the strikes at train firms after their trade association, the Rail Delivery Group, failed to submit new proposals for negotiation.

“The Rail Delivery Group has been completely unreasonable by not offering our members any deal on pay, conditions and job security,” Mick Lynch, the union’s general secretary, said in the release, while adding that the RMT remains “open to meaningful talks.”

The walkouts are set to disrupt long-distance operators LNER, Great Western, Avanti West Coast and Cross Country Trains, as well as commuter services including South Eastern, South Western Railway and Greater Anglia.

The parallel action at Network Rail comes after the firm agreed to negotiate a pay accord, only to seek to impose job cuts and less-sociable hours before writing directly to staff with a previously rejected offer, the RMT said.

No Redundancies

Network Rail’s chief negotiator, Tim Shoveller, said the two-year, 8% package includes job guarantees through January 2025, instead of just next year. Around 1,800 of the state-owned firm’s 10,000 posts would still be cut, but through retirement and voluntary departures rather than redundancies.

The UK government is pushing rail firms to restructure operations after a system-wide slump in ridership as more people work from home following the coronavirus pandemic. Shoveller said that the sector has a £2 billion ($2.3 billion) hole in its budget that’s “not going to change anytime soon.”

Services on London’s Tube and Arriva Rail’s Overground network will be hit by separate actions on Nov. 3, the RMT said.