More strikes on the railway will cause disruption across the region in the coming months. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at train companies and Network Rail are to walk out again for 24 hours on July 27, and on August 18 and 20.
RMT members will also be joined on July 27 by TSSA members who work with Avanti West Coast, which will disrupt services from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston. Aslef, the union which represents train drivers, have also announced they will be striking, however, this does not currently affect Greater Manchester services.
Members of Aslef at Arriva Rail London, Chiltern Railways, Greater Anglia, Great Western, Hull Trains, LNER, Southeastern and West Midlands Trains will walk out on July 30. Ballots are to close at Avanti West Coast and CrossCountry on Wednesday July 27; and at Northern Trains, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales on Thursday August 25.
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Strikes at Avanti West Coast and CrossCountry would affect services to London and the south coast, with potential strikes at Northern, TransPennine, and Transport for Wales disrupting local services and those across the north and into Scotland and Wales. The train driver strikes comes as a result of pay disputes.
Speaking after the announcement of two more days of strikes, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “The rail industry and the Government need to understand that this dispute will not simply vanish. They need to get serious about providing an offer on pay which helps deal with the cost-of-living crisis, job security for our members and provides good conditions at work.
“Recent proposals from Network Rail fell well short on pay and on safety around maintenance work. And the train operating companies have not even made us a pay offer in recent negotiations.
“Now Grant Shapps (Transport Secretary) has abandoned his forlorn hopes for the job of prime minister, he can now get back to his day job and help sort this mess out. We remain open for talks, but we will continue our campaign until we reach a negotiated settlement.”
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: “We don’t want to go on strike – strikes are the result of a failure of negotiation – and this union, since I was elected general secretary in 2011, has only ever been on strike, until this year, for a handful of days. We don’t want to inconvenience passengers, not least because our friends and families use public transport too, and we believe in building trust in the railways in Britain, and we don’t want to lose money by going on strike.
“But we’ve been forced into this position by the train companies, driven by the Tory Government. The drivers at the companies where we are striking have had a real-terms pay cut over the last three years, since April 2019."
There are no major events that will be disrupted by the RMT strikes on July 27. But the RMT strikes last month did cause widespread disruption to commuters and travellers. Companies had to put on very limited timetables, with many services sold out, or not running at all.
August 18 is A-level results day, so students who usually rely on trains will need to figure out a back-up plan to make it to school to pick up their results. August 20 sees O2 Victoria Warehouse host the size?sessions Festival, featuring rappers AJ Tracey and Nines as headliners. The strikes come just a week before the city will host the annual Pride celebrations, which usually see thousands of people flocking to the city centre to enjoy the festivities.
Train driver strikes in coming months could cause severe disruptions. The closing of vote ballots for the services operating within the region in the coming weeks, and subsequent walk-outs that could come from this, would coincide with the start of the Premier League and Football League football season, which will see fans travelling across the county by train to and from Manchester.
The AO arena is set to welcome big acts in September too, weeks after the ballot closes on strike action for Northern and TransPennine Express. Snoop Dog, George Ezra and Arcade Fire are among those gigs that could be affected by train strikes.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “It’s incredibly disappointing that, just three days after their ballots closed, Aslef bosses have already opted for destructive strike action, instead of engaging in constructive talks. Not only that but, by seemingly co-ordinating strike dates around the Commonwealth Games, it’s clear union bosses are determined to cause as much misery as possible and derail an event the whole country is looking forward to.
“Train drivers, such as those Aslef represent, earn, on average, just under £60,000 – more than twice the UK average and significantly more than the very workers who will be most impacted by these strikes despite stumping up £600 per household to keep the railway running throughout the pandemic. Our railway is in desperate need of modernisation to make it work better for passengers and be financially sustainable for the long term. I urge union bosses to reconsider this divisive action and instead work worth their employers, not against them, to agree a new way forward.”
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