Train travel has become a bit of a risky business recently, with strike action across the country making scheduling a trip a case of plan your journey, hope for the best.
Rail workers in the RMT union are taking travel plans for the next six months in their hands this month, as they vote on whether to continue strike action over pay, job security and working conditions until the new year. The ballot closes on 15 November.
RMT members from 15 train companies and Network Rail have so far taken part in eight nationwide strike days since June and have been joined by members from other unions across the country. Passengers across the country felt waves of disruption on 1 October, when members of several rail unions including drivers’ union Aslef, all took part in strikes on the same day, leaving only one in ten services running.
Although there is currently no further action planned by the RMT, if there is no breakthrough in talks and members vote in favour of strikes, industrial action could continue into Spring 2023.
An offer from Network Rail of a 4% pay rise this year followed by a 4% pay rise in 2023, plus benefits such as highly discounted travel for employees and their families, was rejected by the RMT in July, however RMT’s general secretary Mick Lynch has insisted that members would prefer to reach a settlement and bring the dispute to an end.
He told MPs on the Transport Select Committee last week that more money and “a change in attitude and a change of stance” were needed from the government and the rail industry, for a solution to be reached.
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