The National Rail Enquiries website has crashed on the first morning of UK train strikes. Several parts of the country have been left without any rail services at all, while others have been heavily disrupted and people are advised not to travel unless absolutely necessary.
The National Rail website is used by commuters and less frequent travellers alike to view up-to-date train times, platform departures, plan journeys and book tickets. But anyone attempting to use the site this morning is greeted with an 'Error 552' message. The National Rail app, however, still appears to be working.
A message in the app when searching for journeys says: "The RMT union has announced strike action on Tuesday June 21, Thursday June 23 and Saturday June 25. Customers are strongly advised to only travel if absolutely necessary on strike days as there will be significantly reduced service, some routes will not be served. Please plan ahead and check nationalrail.co.uk/industrialaction fir updates."
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The RMT union, which represents transport workers, has called the strikes - the biggest in 30 years - in response to what they say is an 'aggressive agenda of cuts to jobs, conditions, pay and pensions'. Talks with the Government have so far failed, leading to this week's walkouts and further warnings that more could follow.
An RMT statement from general secretary Mick Lynch, issued yesterday, said: "Discussions with Network Rail and the Train Operators have continued today. The Train Operators have now made an offer and there is no further offer from Network Rail following the one which was rejected last Friday.
"The RMT National Executive Committee has now found both sets of proposals to be unacceptable and it is now confirmed that the strike action scheduled this week will go ahead. It is clear that the Tory Government after slashing £4bn of funding from National Rail and Transport for London, has now actively prevented a settlement to this dispute.
"The rail companies have now proposed pay rates that are massively under the relevant rates of inflation, coming on top of the pay freezes of the past few years. At the behest of the Government, companies are also seeking to implement thousands of job cuts and have failed to give any guarantee against Compulsory Redundancies.
"As a result of this transport austerity, the employing companies have taken decisions to:
- Attack the Railway Pension Scheme and the TFL scheme, diluting benefits, making staff work longer and making them poorer in retirement, while paying increased contributions.
- Cut thousands of jobs across the rail network while not giving a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies.
- Cutting safety inspections on the infrastructure by 50% in order to facilitate mass redundancies.
- Attack terms, conditions and working practices in a form of internal fire and re-hire, including lowering existing salaries and increasing the working week.
- Re-starting the disputes on the role and responsibility of the guard and massive cuts to catering services.
- Closing every ticket office in Britain regardless of the accessibility needs of the diversity of passengers
- Cutting real pay for most of our members through lengthy pay freezes and well below RPI inflation pay proposals.
"Faced with such an aggressive agenda of cuts to jobs, conditions, pay and pensions, RMT has no choice but to defend our members industrially to stop this race to the bottom. The strikes on Network Rail, the Train Operators and London Underground will go ahead, and we again call on our members to stand firm, support the action, mount the pickets and demonstrate their willingness to fight for workplace justice.
"The RMT supports the campaign for a square deal for all working people in the face of the cost-of-living crisis, and our current campaign is a part of that more general campaign which means that public services have to be properly funded and all workers properly paid with good conditions. RMT remains available for discussions that will settle this dispute and ensure our transport system can operate without disruption."
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has accused RMT leader Mick Lynch of wanting to transform himself into one of the “1970s union barons”.
He told LBC radio: “I can see what’s happening here, their leader says he is nostalgic for the days of union powers and he’s determined to turn himself back into one of those 1970s union barons.”
Mr Shapps said new laws to allow flexible workers, including agency staff, to cover for those on strike could be introduced within months. He said: “We are going to change the law to ensure there can be much more flexibility, the law which is sometimes referred to as agency is actually more about transferability.
"That sort of modernisation can be achieved, if we can’t get it by agreement with the unions, by changing the law. And we will change the law in rapid order in the next month or two to ensure that transferable skills are allowed.”
