A new day of strike has forced the suspension of half of the train service in the United Kingdom this Saturday, due to the strike supported by more than 20,000 railway workers. The main union in the sector, the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT), called for this mobilization for the second consecutive Saturday, which adds to the strikes in the British railways that have been going on for more than a year to demand better wages and conditions of work.
Today’s strike is expected to affect half of the train services, and some of which will end earlier than usual, so the disruptions will not be noticeable until Sunday morning.
They seek to avoid layoffs
In statements to the BBC, the general secretary of the RMT, Mick Lynch, said that he “does not know” when the mobilizations will end, since, in his opinion, they are facing “a government that does not negotiate”. He considered that right now the priority is not so much salary increases, despite not having received them in four years, but avoiding the dismissal of new workers.
“When we close that, we would want a raise that addresses the cost-of-living crisis,” though he declined to detail the numbers his union would consider acceptable. For Josh Cole, of the Rail Delivery Group, which represents 14 affected companies, it is a “real shame” that the union has not submitted to the consultation of its members the offer of a 13% salary increase for the lowest wages , after more than a year of negotiations.
Along the same lines, a spokesman for the Ministry of Transport, also quoted by the BBC, urged the RMT to consult its members “on these fair and reasonable offers, so that this dispute can be ended.”
