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Not another one! Get ready to rearrange your plans, because there’s going to be a national rail strike for one day on July 27. RMT union members who work for Network Rail will be walking out from 2am on the Wednesday for 24 hours, while workers at other rail companies will strike from midnight to the following midnight on the same day.
This will of course affect Londoners, and London train services that could be disrupted are London Overground, LNER, Southeastern and Great Western.
The strike also coincides with the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on July 28, so if you’re heading there, might we suggest sweating it out on the Megabus?
This strike follows the national industrial action that took place at the end of June when tens of thousands of rail workers across the country walked out in a campaign for better pay, working conditions and job security. Unions said it was the biggest rail strike in 30 years.
At the time, RMT asked for a pay rise of at least 7 per cent for all rail workers. This week Network Rail made them an offer of a pay rise of more than 5 per cent, but under the condition that workers would accept 'modernising reforms.' But RMT leaders rejected the offer, calling it 'paltry'.
Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary, said Network Rail's offer would actually mean a real terms pay cut for workers, and it would lead to 'drastic changes' in union members' working lives.
He said: 'The train operating companies remain stubborn and are refusing to make any new offer which deals with job security and pay.'
Network Rail's chief executive Andrew Haines said the offer's rejection was 'incredibly frustrating'.
RMT are still holding out, and Lynch said that they would carry on the dispute 'for as long as it takes, until we get a negotiated settlement.'
So, your plans might be scuppered in a couple of weeks, but only for one day. We can't say how long these strikes are going to continue for, but if there's one thing we can say, is that collective action isn't going away any time soon.
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