Summary
Here the latest developments at a glance:
- British Airways workers based at Heathrow have voted in favour of strikes in a dispute over pay, the GMB and Unite unions announced on Thursday.
- Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has told the UK government to have “respect” for workers by resolving the train dispute that is “crippling” the UK.
- Downing Street has urged the unions to call off the rail strikes “as quickly as possible”, adding it was up to them whether to go ahead with Saturday’s action.
- Speaking in Rwanda, Boris Johnson branded the rail strikes “unnecessary” and said “sensible reforms” were needed.
- More railway workers are set to vote on strikes, threatening fresh disruption in the industry throughout the summer.
- TomTom figures suggested that road congestion was higher than last week in London this morning, but lower in other cities.
- The head of the UK’s recruitment body warned that changing the law to allow firms to hire agency workers to replace staff on strike during industrial disputes would not work.
- Rail union leaders hailed a 7.1% pay deal for Merseyrail staff, which was struck without government involvement, as evidence that it is ministers who are blocking a deal in the national dispute.
- The second day of strike action resulted in only around one in five trains will run and mainly on main lines during the day. Network Rail said that rail services today would “look much like they did on Tuesday”, starting later in the morning and ending early in the evening, around 6.30pm.
- Train services will continue to be disrupted on Friday because of knock-on effects of Thursday’s rail strikes.
That’s all from me, this blog will now close. Thanks for following along.
Train services will continue to be disrupted on Friday because of knock-on effects of the second day of this week’s rail strikes.
Only around 60% of the 20,000 normal weekday services will be able to operate.
Walkouts by signallers and control room staff who would usually have worked overnight from Thursday night into Friday morning mean trains will leave depots later than normal, delaying the start of services, PA reports.
The process of taking trains out of depots will only begin when signallers on daytime shifts start work at 6am to 6.30am.
It is expected that the start of services will be delayed by up to four hours in some locations. Usually, passenger services begin at between around 5am and 6am.
In London, services will increase quickly as trains do not have to travel long distances from depots to stations, but in more remote locations, this will take several hours.
Network Rail said that “even during the day the service will stay thinner” than usual and some operators will wind down services slightly earlier than normal.
Services on Saturday are expected to be affected similarly to the other strike days on Tuesday and Thursday.
Around 20% of services will run and just half of lines will be open, and only between 7.30am and 6.30pm.
Negotiations are ongoing and passengers are urged to check with train operators for updates to services, in case Saturday’s strike will be called off.
