Railway workers went on strike again on Saturday as they continued their fight for better pay and conditions.
A picket line was formed outside Central Station in Newcastle, where members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) gathered with banners bearing slogans such as "safe trains for all". The strike follows action on Friday by train drivers in the Aslef union, which crippled services, with some parts of England having no trains all day.
On Saturday, the RMT walked out at 14 train operators, the day of the Eurovision Song Contest final in Liverpool. There were more train services running than on Friday but many companies were restricting their number of routes and hours of operation.
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The RMT pointed out that when it re-balloted its members recently there was a "massive" vote to continue taking strike action. Saturday was chosen for a strike as it was the last date allowed under employment laws, said the union.
David King, RMT national executive committee member for the North East, said: "We are here outside Newcastle Central Station back on the cobbles, just a couple of weeks after our members renewed their mandate for a third time against anti-trade union laws.
"We smashed it again with 96% of our members, that's 20,000 on train operating companies who wanted to continue strike action. We are here again today to defend our jobs, pay and conditions.
"The latest we've had from the Government is an offer of five per cent for one year and four per cent for the second year. But that's all conditional on all these terrible workplace reforms, we call them, which is basically smashing up all our terms and conditions, destroying our work-life balance.
"There's going to be thousands of job losses as well, which is going to lead to a less safe, less secure, less accessible railway."
Ian Lavery, Labour MP for Wansbeck, was also at the picket line. He said: "I'm delighted to be here on the picket line with members of the RMT. These are the people who run the rail network. These are the people who carried us through Covid on the transport system.
"And all they are asking for is decent wages, decent terms and conditions, many of them involve safety for passengers. That's why I'm here supporting the RMT and every single member of that union."
The Government says that, in line with the existing mandate, the Rail Delivery Group offer on the table guaranteed competitive pay rises of five per cent + four per cent pay increase over two years, with larger increases for the lower paid and no compulsory redundancies, whilst ensuring they can "take forward much-needed reform to secure the future of our railways".
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "Despite the rail unions’ best efforts, the Government has worked with local partners in Liverpool to ensure Eurovision fans, including our Ukrainian friends, can still travel and enjoy the fantastic festivities put on across the city.
"The RMT has a fair and reasonable pay offer on the table for their members working at train operating companies which, just two months ago, Network Rail members voted to overwhelmingly accept. The RMT leadership needs to do the right thing, stop silencing their members and put this pay offer to a members vote.”
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