Workers across the rail industry will join train drivers in strikes on 1 October, targeting the start of Conservative party conference.
The RMT union has announced fresh action after planned strikes were put on hold during the 10 days of mourning for the Queen.
Tens of thousands of RMT members at Network Rail and 14 train operating companies will strike in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs and working conditions.
The combined strike will mean virtually no trains are likely to run on the opening day of the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, with thousands of signalling workers at Network Rail taking industrial action on the same day as the train drivers in Aslef.
Both unions gave the mandatory 14-day notice of a strike to the industry but did not officially announce action until after the Queen’s funeral.
It is understood that a third union, the TSSA, has also given notice but has yet to officially announce a strike. The TSSA declined to comment.
The RMT said it had received no further offers from the rail industry to help come to a negotiated settlement.
The union’s general secretary, Mick Lynch, said: “Transport workers are joining a wave of strike action on 1 October, sending a clear message to the government and employers that working people will not accept continued attacks on pay and working conditions at a time when big business profits are at an all-time high.
“The summer of solidarity we have seen will continue into the autumn and winter if employers and the government continue to refuse workers reasonable demands.
“We want a settlement to these disputes where our members and their families can get a square deal. And we will not rest until we get a satisfactory outcome.”
Aslef, meanwhile, confirmed its members at 12 companies would strike on 1 October and 5 October, the last day of the Tory conference. Firms whose drivers will walk out include Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, CrossCountry and West Midlands Trains, all of which directly serve Birmingham.
Mick Whelan, the Aslef general secretary, said it was a last resort: “The companies with whom we are in dispute have not offered us a penny. It is outrageous that they expect us to put up with a real terms pay cut for a third year in a row. And that’s why we are going on strike.”
A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson, representing the train operators, said: “These strikes will once again hugely inconvenience the very passengers the industry needs to support its recovery from the ongoing impact of the pandemic.
“The strikes are not in the long-term interests of rail workers or building a sustainable rail industry. We want to give our people a pay rise, but without the reforms we are proposing, we simply cannot deliver pay increases.”
The RMT strike at Network Rail will disrupt or stop many services across England, Scotland and Wales. Its members working for train companies will also strike at Chiltern Railways; Cross Country Trains, Greater Anglia, LNER, East Midlands, c2c, Great Western, Northern, Southeastern, South Western, TransPennine Express, Avanti West Coast, West Midlands Trains and Govia Thameslink Railway.
