Drivers are facing strikes on both sides of the New Year celebrations as road traffic officers and control room staff launch a two-day strike.
Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) working for National Highways in southwest England and the West Midlands will walk out on Friday.
Other National Highways workers will strike on 3 and 4 January, with the AA warning that the roads are likely to be busy on the third as people return to the workplace and children go back to school.
Strikes will also affect the east Midlands and eastern England on 6 January.
The union said the action is likely to have an impact on signs and signals being set up to warn motorists of blockages and incidents, a reduced ability to respond and deal with collisions, and delays in reopening carriageways and motorways.
However, National Highways said they are “confident that this action will have minimal overall impact”. Between 10 and 25 people are expected to strike per region on each of the strike days.
Around 8 per cent of National Highways frontline staff are members of the PCS union, and taking in shift patterns only 2 per cent of staff are likely to be off at the same time.
“The PCS strikes involve a small minority of front-line operations staff. We have well-rehearsed resilience plans to continue managing and operating our network safely, and we’re confident that this action will have minimal overall impact,” Duncan Smith, executive director of operations at National Highways, said.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka warned the strike would likely cause disruption.
“Previous strikes elsewhere in England have caused disruption for people travelling over the Christmas period, and this strike is likely to do the same,” he said.
“While we regret people’s travel plans will be affected, we make it very clear this strike could be called off today if the prime minister or chancellor put money on the table.”
Border Force workers in the PCS based at a number of airports are continuing with strike action until New Year’s Eve.
Military personnel will continue to cover for striking workers at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow airports, as well as the Port of Newhaven.
The dispute is over pay, jobs, pensions and conditions, with more strikes set to be announced in the new year.
Plans to disrupt passport control have not caused significant delays due to the hundreds of military personnel covering these roles. Passengers reported going through immigration in just a few minutes at Heathrow and a spokesperson for the airport said “operations continue to run smoothly”.
Duncan Smith, executive director of operations at National Highways, said: “Millions of people rely on our roads and there is a possibility that they may be busier than usual on strike days, particularly when they correspond with industrial action on other transport modes. We’d urge drivers to take extra care during the cold weather.”
The highways strikes come after the Trades Union Congress warned that strike chaos could carry on throughout 2023 if the government refused to negotiate over pay rises.
Speaking to The Independent, Paul Nowak, the TUC’s new leader, said voters will “punish” the Conservatives at the next general election unless Rishi Sunak changes his stance on public sector pay.
