The freezing temperatures will have tested the resolve of striking rail workers huddled on the picket line in December, but the thought of warm beaches in the summer to come might have helped keep the cold at bay.
For Billy, a rail worker for more than 40 years, these thoughts are now simply nothing more than figments of his imagination. A family wedding in Greece is set to take place this year, but he’s had to tell his relatives he cannot attend, owing to the loss of pay since RMT strikes began in June.
“I just can’t afford it,” Billy, who only wanted to give his first name, told the ECHO, standing outside Lime Street Station on Wednesday morning. There, dozens of RMT members lined the picket for the second of what will be four days of industrial action in the first week of the new year.
