T
he head of Britain’s largest rail union warned train strikes could go on for months on Tuesday as a fresh 48-hour walkout caused misery for commuters.
Mick Lynch said the RMT had a mandate to take action up until May, but warned: “If we have to go further, that’s what we’ll need to do.”
However Network Rail’s chief negotiator said that a deal to stop rail strikes is in “touching distance”.
Rail passengers suffered fresh travel disruption with 40,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail and 14 train operators staging a 48-hour walkout, with another to follow on Friday, while drivers in the Aslef union will strike on Thursday.
Picket lines were again mounted outside railway stations across the country in a repeat of what became a familiar sight last year.
Passengers, including those returning to work after the festive break, are being warned to expect “significant disruption” as only a limited number of trains will run.
The advice is to only travel if absolutely necessary, allow extra time and check when first and last trains will depart.
On RMT strike days, around half of the network will shut down, with only about 20% of normal services running.
Trains that do run will start later and finish much earlier than usual – with services typically running between 7.30am and 6.30pm on the day of the strike.
The Elizabeth Line is also disrupted with severe delays between Paddington and Reading and Liverpool Street to Shenfield. London Overground services have also been hit along with parts of the Bakerloo and District lines.
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‘Subdued’ Christmas could be result of strikes, retail boss says
Kris Hamer, director of insight at the British Retail Consortium, warned that continuing rail strikes could cause inflation to rise further.
The strikes led to a decrease in footfall on high streets ahead of the Christmas period.
Mr Hamer told the BBC: “We saw pre-Christmas that sales were relatively subdued. When the strikes were taking effect there was a switch of spending from stores to online.
“Running stores is expensive. Having business rates to pay, those costs need to be covered and the effect of lowering levels of demand because people can’t get to the shops is actually inflationary.
“That’s the last thing that we need.”
Further details of anti-strike legislation to come
The Government will come forward with further details on anti-strikes legislation, the Work and Pensions Secretary has suggested.
When asked if the Government would call off its anti-strikes legislation if the rail unions call off their strikes now, Mel Stride told the BBC: “Well, that’s not a matter for me as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, those are matters for the Prime Minister and then the Secretary of State for Transport.
He added: “I would make a more general point here, which is that I think we do have to question whether we’ve got the balance right between the rights of workers to strike and the inconvenience and sometimes danger that can pose to the public.
“So I think it’s quite right that the Government has come forward and already introduced some legislation, and we will come forward with further details.”
Work and Pensions Secretary, Mel Stride
/ PA WireUnion members lose two weeks of ‘take home pay’
RMT union members have lost “somewhere in the region of more than two weeks take home pay”, Senior Assistant General Secretary Eddie Dempsey has claimed.
He told Talk TV that members are set to “lose more money over the strike days that we’re undertaking over the next few days”.
Mr Dempsey said some have been “selling things this Christmas” to make ends meet and “no one” takes the strikes “lightly”.
“Our members are resolved, and determined to get a fair settlement,” he added.
Mr Dempsey claimed some members feared their marriage would be under strain if they had to take on more anti-social working hours.
Tube updates: Bakerloo Line, Overground part suspended
The Bakerloo Line and London Overground are part suspended as many commuters head home after their first day back at work for 2023.
Meanwhile there are severe delays on the Elizabeth Line and minor delays on the Central, Circle, District and Jubilee lines.
More information from Transport for London (TfL) can be found here.
What rail strikes have already been announced for January?
Today’s action is set to be followed by further walkouts throughout the week. Here is an overview of when rail services are set to be disrupted due to strikes in the next few weeks, as well as some London bus services run by Abelio.
Services from trains to health will be hit by walkouts in January and beyond.
Here are some of the strikes planned:
– January 3
RMT members at Network Rail launch fresh strikes.
– January 4
The RMT rail workers’ strike continues.
In addition, some London bus workers at Abellio to go on strike.
– January 5
Train workers at 15 operators with the Aslef union to stage a 24-hour walkout.
London bus workers at Abellio to go on strike again.
– January 6
RMT rail workers will stage another 48-hour strike.
– January 7
The RMT rail workers’ walkout continues.
– January 10
London bus workers at Abellio to go on strike.
– January 12
Workers on London’s Elizabeth line will go on strike.
London bus workers at Abellio will also stage industrial action.
– January 16
London bus workers at Abellio will go on strike.
– January 19
London bus workers at Abellio will go on strike.
– January 25
London bus workers at Abellio will go on strike.
– January 26
London bus workers at Abellio will continue strike.
Suspensions and severe delays ongoing in latest TfL update
RMT claps back at Edwina Curry who claimed AI would make unions ‘redundant’
Edwina Curry provoked the RMT into a response after sharing claims a deal could be close to end the strike.
The first of five strikes began today.
Strikes will go beyond May ‘unless reasonable offer made’ – union
Mick Lynch has said industrial action will need to continue beyond May unless a reasonable offer is made to the RMT.
Speaking from a picket line at Euston station in London, he said: “They (the strikes) are likely to go ahead if there’s no offer that we can work on.
“We would like to get into a situation where we’re negotiating constantly with the companies and where we didn’t have to have strike action, and then work up a settlement that our members could vote on and accept.
“But if we don’t get that there will have to be more action, and we’ve got a mandate that runs through to May this year, and if we have to go further, that’s what we’ll need to do. We don’t want that, though.”
He added: “Our members are taking action right across the country, from the north of Scotland to the tip of Cornwall. The railway service has ground to a halt and it will be severely disrupted this week – we don’t take any pleasure in that.”
Rail strikes ‘totally selfish’, say stranded commuters
Other commuters have spoken of how they have been prevented from getting to work over the strikes, writes John Dunne.
Lydia Sweeney, a 21-year-old hairdresser, said: “It’s all very well the train strikers stopping work over pay but I don’t earn a lot and they are either stopping me getting to work or making me late every day. There’s a cost of living crisis for all of us not just them. It’s totally selfish.”
Aisha Bhati, a 26-year-old student, said: “I need to get to college. I’m training to work in the NHS so I can do something worthwhile and these strikes are making life more difficult. I’m in favour of the nurses’ strike but I think the rail workers striking over Christmas and New Year has not helped their cause.”
Meanwhile, Monica and Mark Sheppard had been in London with her daughter Isabella after travelling down from Hull. They had booked to go to the Warner Bros Harry Potter Experience in Watford and were desperately trying to get a train.
Mr Sheppard said: “We are still hoping to get there, Isabella has been looking forward to it but the strike has made it a stressful journey. We don’t want to let her down.”
Isabella aged 8 at Euston Station morning during the train strike
/ Jeremy Selwyn‘Nightmare after Christmas’: Fed-up commuters vent frustration over strikes
Commuters left stranded by rail strikes have vented their frustrations, writes John Dunne.
Kelly Sandord, a 26-year-old retail buyer needed to get to Shrewsbury only to find there were no trains at Euston.
She said: “What a first day back it’s like the nightmare after Christmas.
“We’ve just had enough, the way they have targeted Christmas and January is so selfish. You would think as a good will gesture they would put it on hold. To start the new working year like this is a massive downer. My sympathy for the strike is waning.”
William Tulley, 58, was trying to get to Northampton after visiting relatives in London.
He said: “I’m not anti-strike but the country cannot continue like this. Covid set us back economically and socially in some ways and this industrial action is stopping our recovery. It’s certainly a bleak start to the New Year.”
