Boris Johnson braced commuters for months of rail misery as unions crippled London’s transport system today with strikes on the Tube and train networks.
The capital’s stations were left eerily empty as the Government, unions and rail chiefs dug in for a long battle over forcing the industry to ditch “archaic” work practices and on pay and job cuts.
Many Londoners were forced to endure long queues to get a bus to work or had to drive in, go by foot, bike or even boat.
The walk-outs were predicted to cost London’s economy around £120 million in lost output, with the hospitality sector bearing the brunt. London schools prepared to use minibuses to collect exam students from home as they sought to ensure that A-levels and GCSEs were not disrupted. Some rail passengers accused union leaders of being out of touch amid the cost-of-living crisis.
Designer Jack Galloway, 33, who was attempting to travel from Paddington to Plymouth, said: “The strike is disgusting. We just came out of a pandemic, the economy is tanking with inflation soaring. What makes the rail workers so special? They are not in tune with the nation.”
Speaking at the start of Cabinet, the Prime Minister condemned the “unnecessary aggravation” caused by the walk-outs, with rail strikes on Thursday and Saturday as well, and warned of more travel chaos this summer.
“I’m afraid, everybody, and I say this to the country as a whole, we need to get ready to stay the course,” he said.
“To stay the course, because these reforms, these improvements in the way we run our railways are in the interests of the travelling public, they will help to cut costs for fare payers up and down the country.”
He argued that the modernisation programme was also in the interests of workers because “if we don’t do this, these great companies, this great industry, will face further financial pressure, it will go bust and the result will be they have to hike up the cost of tickets still further”.
But Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union general secretary Mick Lynch warned of a summer of strike action and called on other union leaders to co-ordinate protests and rallies on the streets of Britain’s towns and cities. He stated: “My advice to the unions is to campaign on the issues and ultimately if the Government and employers do not change their direction, I believe more ballots for strike action are inevitable and more action is inevitable.”
Labour was split over the strike with Sir Keir Starmer having banned frontbenchers from joining the picket lines. But his deputy, Angela Rayner, tweeted support for strikers, saying: “No one takes strike action lightly. I will always defend their absolute right to do so for fairness at work.”
In London, the RMT is understood to be balloting its Underground members to seek a new mandate for further strikes, as its current six-month mandate runs out shortly. The ballot result is expected later this week.
However, Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail, insisted that a pay rise above three per cent could be on the table if unions agreed to ditch the “archaic” work practices. He gave a long list of alleged outdated practices including:
- Two vans being sent to the same site “because people won’t share the same van”.
- Blocking the introduction of new safety planning tools.
- Restricting the use of new technology.
- Not turning on a forward-facing camera in a car or van.
- Having to roster people in whole teams “regardless of the size of the task”.
- Not being able to move people from “work that is not necessary to work that is necessary”.
Mr Haines was grilled on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether the Government was pushing for Network Rail to limit any pay offer to no more than three per cent.
“That is not a serious constraint in our context because we are such an archaic industry in many of our working practices we can offer a good pay rise to our colleagues and good value for the taxpayer if only we can get sensible reforms in,” he said.
He also insisted that Network Rail had given a job security guarantee for a “very large percentage” of its workforce and that proposed redundancies, of less than 2,000 posts, would “hopefully” be able to be achieved by voluntary means.
However, Mr Lynch denied an offer of more than three per cent was on the table and demanded a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies as key to reaching a deal on modernisation.
“Whether we can get seven per cent is the art of negotiation,” he told LBC Radio. “At the moment, we have been offered two per cent, and two half a per cent increments if we accept everything that they want.”
He apologised to Londoners for the disruption but said there was “no choice” if the union wanted to protect the jobs and pensions of its members.
He said the union had “major problems” with Transport for London. “They are saying they want to cut their pension contributions by a third, which will mean drastic reductions to our members’ benefits and a poorer life in retirement,” he said. “They are also suggesting massive changes in working practices that will make our members’ lives unbearable in many cases.”
Andy Lord, TfL’s chief operating officer, told the Standard: “We hugely apologise to everybody who has been disrupted, but the Elizabeth line has been operating a good service on its central section since about 7am.”
TfL used volunteers and managers to open the four Underground-run stations on the central section of the Elizabeth line — Tottenham Court Road, Whitechapel, Farringdon and Liverpool Street. The other six stations on the line’s central section are run by MTR, which also employs the drivers. However, services on the line will end at 7pm, and soon after 4pm on its eastern and western branches.
