UK rail strike returns this weekend as pay dispute drags on

Britain is braced for another day of cancellations on its regional and long-distance rail network as workers strike in a long-running feud over pay and job security.

The RMT union will hold its latest walkout on Saturday, affecting 14 train companies running routes connecting towns and cities across the UK, including the Gatwick Express service to the airport south of London. It follows two days of industrial action last week. The Aslef union will stage a week-long overtime ban from July 31 to Aug. 5, ahead of a further strike from Aug. 7-12. 

Transport labor groups are at loggerheads with train companies and have accused the government of obstructing a deal. Mick Lynch, the RMT’s general secretary, said earlier this month that he hasn’t met ministers since January.

The Department for Transport said in a statement that it facilitated “improved offers on pay and reform” and urged union leaders to put it to their members for a vote. 

Last week, the union published a report on the business models of the train operating companies, calling them “parasitic bodies” and highlighting their reliance on public investments in the network while paying out dividends on profits accrued since privatization in 1997.

Rail workers achieved a win this week after a consultation on the closure of over 1,000 ticket offices was delayed. The process, which was originally meant to last three weeks, was extended until Sept. 1 amid commuter backlash. The RMT has been campaigning against the closures and called for the whole process to be abandoned, while the Rail Delivery Group representing operators has argued that the system is in need of updating to meet the smartphone era. 

The RMT, along with the unions Aslef and Unite, had called off strikes on the London Underground - which were due to plunge commuters in the capital into travel disruption for this entire week - after a breakthrough in talks between Transport for London and the unions. 

Mass strikes have affected the UK since inflation took off last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, triggering a cost-of-living crisis as prices increased faster than wages. Several major disputes have been resolved, however. Royal Mail — owned by International Distributions Services Plc — reached an agreement with postal workers this month, while teachers are currently considering an improved offer from the government.

In the National Health Service, many workers such as nurses have ended their strikes, yet doctors remain in dispute and plan to walk out again in August.