UK train workers to strike during Labour Party conference

Britain is set to be hit by another national train strike next month as rail workers escalate their demand for higher pay rises and call on the opposition Labour Party to support their cause.

The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association said Wednesday that workers at nine train operating companies and track group Network Rail will hold a 24-hour walkout from midday Sept. 26.

The dates coincide with Labour’s annual conference, which starts in Liverpool the previous day. The timing may be awkward for party leader Keir Starmer, who was criticized by some of his own lawmakers for sacking Shadow Transport Minister Sam Tarry after he joined a picket line in support of striking rail workers.

Labour has historically aligned itself with trade unions and socialist causes since its founding more than a century ago. 

Announcing the latest walkout, TSSA union leader Manuel Cortes said he “will be standing on our picket line in Liverpool and will be encouraging fellow delegates and Labour Members of Parliament to do likewise.”

Starmer later reiterated his opposition to joining trade union protests. “I want a Labour government, I want to be the Labour prime minister,” he told the Jeremy Vine show on Channel 5. “You can’t sit around a Cabinet table resolving issues and then walk on to a picket line -- they are different jobs.”

Cortes also blamed Transport Secretary Grant Shapps -- of the ruling Conservative Party -- for the standoff. However, he said “negotiations are ongoing with Network Rail and the gap toward a resolution is narrowing.”

The industrial action follows a three-day strike between Aug. 18 and 20 spanning 14 train companies, the London Underground and some bus services in the capital. Another major national strike took place in July.