The sale of prepaid rail tickets has been halted for the greatest scheduled strikes in 33 years, and those already booked on trains have been advised to rethink their plans as millions of people face delays and inconvenience at the end of June.
50,000 members of the hard-left Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at 13 train operators and Network Rail will strike on June 21, 23, and 25, with more to follow if a dispute over pay and job losses is not resolved, according to the RMT.
On the first day of the strike, 1,000 Unite members will go on strike.
Over five days at the end of this month on the railroads and buses, industrial action will disrupt work, school during GSCE and A-level exams, and events such as Glastonbury.
Because of the logistical issues that will arise, the strike will last for an entire week.
Advance ticket sales have been halted for the strike days until emergency timetables have been finalized, implying that the UK’s railway network, which has already received £16 billion in government cash to keep it running throughout the pandemic, is running out of money.
South Western Railway, which serves some of Britain’s biggest stations, including Waterloo and Clapham Junction, today detailed the strike’s impact on the 1.6 million passengers who use its trains every day.
‘It is probable that major parts of the SWR network will be inaccessible for travel on and between those days,’ the company said in a tweet. Where lines are open, far fewer trains will run than usual, resulting in crowded services. If possible, customers are recommended to adjust their travel plans.
Rail freight could be affected as well, resulting in bare shelves and a gasoline shortage. Ministers have been told that multi-day strikes could result in power outages in some areas because trains are unable to feed power stations.
Despite being committed to adopting minimum service standards on the railways, Downing Street has hinted that legislation would not be introduced before this month’s planned strikes.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘We are keeping all options on the table. Minimum services standards are something the Government is committed to.
‘I am not aware of any plans for legislating on that in the next few weeks. Given the scale of these strikes that are imposed, simply introducing one single piece of legislation would not necessarily mitigate against all the damage.’
The spokesman added: ‘First and foremost, it would not be right for the unions to skip the first step in this process – which is to negotiate – and go straight to strike action.’
But critics have urged them to ‘get a grip’. Tory chair of the Commons Transport Commitee, Huw Merriman, called for a minimum service during strikes, like in the EU, where around a third of trains must run during industrial action. He said: ‘The unions have fought very hard. And will not back down. But the Government committed to bringing a minimum service obligation – then it may need that legislation in place to strengthen its hand. We regard the rail as an essential service’.
Travel guru Paul Charles said: ‘It’s looking like a summer meltdown with problems on roads, railways and at airports. Someone has got to get a grip on protecting what used to be the Great British Getaway. At this rate, the whole of the summer is going to be causing real hardship because it will be too unpredictable to travel. So that’s why we need tough decisions, not dithering.’
The militant union chief plotting the worst rail and Tube strikes for 33 years was today accused of giving a faux apology. Mick Lynch, who enjoys more than £124,000-a-year in pay and benefits, has dismissed anger that the nationwide industrial action will hit major events, including concerts, test match cricket and festivals, declaring: ‘There is never a good time for railway dispute. We can’t passively sit around’.
Mr Lynch also insisted that he didn’t want to hit the British economy, despite experts estimating each day of strikes costs the country between £10million and £50million in lost productivity and sales.
The RMT has threatened many more strike dates in a summer of discontent if the dispute over pay and jobs isn’t resolved at a time when Britain is in the middle of the worst cost of living crisis in a generation. The strikes are part of a ‘summer meltdown’ with problems at Britain’s airports, many of which are in disarray because of staff shortages. And in more bad news, the walkout by 50,000 union members means rail freight could also be hit, resulting in empty shelves and a petrol shortage.
Mr Lynch said: ‘We don’t want disruption for anyone and I apologise for that. We don’t follow the comings and goings of Glastonbury or pop concerts. There is never a good time for railway dispute. I want the economy to be sound. But we can’t passively sit around while our members become poorer and are under the threat of losing their jobs’.
He added: ‘We haven’t got a pay deal in three years while inflation is rampant. And our members have had enough’.
Talks between Network Rail (NR) and the union are expected to be held in the next few days, sources told the PA news agency. It is understood that during opening talks the RMT was offered a minimum two per cent pay increase for workers.
The union’s negotiators were told that this could increase if they were willing to accept modernisation of working practices. Its resistance to modernisation has been branded ‘absurd’, with one senior industry source last month revealing how the union was even blocking staff from using mobile phone apps to better communicate with each other during the pandemic.
NR is also drawing up contingency plans, with the strikes expected to cause disruption to services for six days, from the first walkout on Tuesday June 21 to the day after the third strike.
Fewer than one in five trains are likely to run, and only between 7am and 7pm, probably only on main lines.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid called on the unions to call off their action. He said union leaders should ‘act like adults’ and come to a ‘sensible solution’ to disputes in the rail industry.
Mr Javid told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘When it comes to these strikes, it is very disappointing what the unions have said, because it’s not just going to cause misery for the travellers, but it’s actually, I think, the wrong outcome for the workers as well.
‘Because anyone working in this industry, any industry for that matter, you want it to be sustainable for the long term. It’s not possible to keep giving it the same level of support it got during the pandemic.’
Put to him that the Government could legislate to ward off the strikes, he said: ‘There are of course options for the Government. And I know that my colleague, the Secretary of State for Transport, will be looking at all options.
‘But the most important thing right now would be for the union leaders to get around the table with the industry leaders and just basically act like adults and just to come to a sensible solution.’
No direct talks are planned between the union and train operators, although the RMT said it is open to ‘meaningful negotiations’ to try to resolve the dispute.
Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines said the organisation is ‘doing everything we can’ to avoid the strike action.
‘There are two weeks until the first strike is planned. We will use this time to keep talking to our unions and, through compromise and common sense on both sides, we hope to find a solution and avoid the damage that strike action would cause all involved,’ he said.
Rail Delivery Group chairman Steve Montgomery said the strikes are ‘needless and damaging’.
Industry insiders point to Drax power station in North Yorkshire, which can only stockpile supplies sufficient for two or three days and services millions of homes.
Tesco and Puma Energy, which supplies garage forecourts, have also raised concerns about supply lines.
How 1989 rail and Tube strikes caused chaos for commuters
By Harry Howard, History Correspondent for MailOnline
In 1989, the country was gripped by a wave of strikes by railway and London Underground workers.
In April 1989, a day-long wildcat Tube strike left hundreds of thousands of Londoners battling to get to work.
Out of 470 tube drivers, 300 stayed away from work. The strike took place over demands for huge pay hike.
The union boss who was orchestrating the strikes was Jimmy Knapp, who led the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) and then the newly-formed RMT from 1990.
The April strike was a sign of worse misery that was to come, with Knapp announcing plans to begin an indefinite Tube strike from May 8.
British Rail – the state-run body that operated Britain’s railways – had made a seven per cent pay offer that was rejected by the NUR and other rail unions.
In 1989, the country was gripped by a wave of strikes by railway and London Underground workers. Above: Queues for buses and taxis du
Railway union bosses were also up in arms over a plan to end national wage bargaining.
At the same time, bus workers were threatening to strike over demands for a 14 per cent pay rise.
Another factor that was leading to threats by 12,000 Tube workers to strike was a proposal to allow promotion based on merit, rather than giving preference to staff who simply had a record of long service.
In an attempt to avoid the one-day wildcat walkouts over pay, Tube bosses had offered a £30-a-week pay rise, plus two weeks’ extra holiday.
The May 8 chaos was at least partly avoided when the High Court banned the Tube strike, because the ballot to members had been incorrectly phrased. Despite this scores of trains were still cancelled as workers downed tools illegally.
The Daily Mail covered the chaos imposed by rail and Tube workers with their strikes in 1989, which reached their peak in the summer before a pay deal ended the disputes
British Rail then tried to end their dispute with workers by paying them the rejected seven per cent rise.
However, union leader Knapp insisted on pressing on with a series of random 24-hour strikes that would hit every week.
Another court bid was launched in an attempt to stop the first of the strikes, which had been planned for the middle of June.
But when the legal attempt failed, millions of commuters suffered travel misery.
Along with a mass strike by railway workers, Tube and London bus drivers walked out in coordinated fashion.
A woman stands on her car bonnet as she tries to see a way through traffic queues during another co-ordinated bus and tube strike in London in 1989
In an attempt to beat the strikes, all hotels in the centre of the capital were booked up by firms for their staff, with taxis and coach firms also recording record business.
Trains from London to Scotland were totally shutdown, whilst the AA warned of a ‘journey into the unknown’ on the roads.
The following month, successive one-day strikes by rail workers hit on every Wednesday, meaning there where four mass stoppages in four weeks, whilst Tube workers also had a mandate for up to three 24-hour strikes a week.
Tube workers ultimately carried out 13 one-day strikes since their dispute began in April.
The chaos showed signs of coming to an end at the end of July, when Knapp said he would tell workers to accept British Rail’s pay 8.8 per cent pay offer.
In August, Tube strikers did the same after accepting a 8.75 per cent increase in basic pay.
A Government source said the RMT union’s actions were ‘utter folly’ and would ‘hugely inconvenience’ the travelling public and alienate those whose ticket purchases ‘ultimately support RMT jobs’.
The source added: ‘The RMT appears to believe that the way you engage in meaningful negotiation is to put a gun to the head of an industry still struggling from the aftershock of the pandemic.’
It is another blow to travellers, who are already facing a summer of chaos at airports due to staff shortages and some airlines overbooking flights, and UK infrastructure as petrol prices hit £2 a litre this week.
The strikes, which start on the Tuesday and run until Saturday, will cause travel chaos for people going to a number of major events, including concerts, test match cricket and the Glastonbury festival – which starts on June 22 and runs until June 26, with many festival-goers planning to travel to the site by train.
The strikes could also cause disruption for voters in the two upcoming by-elections, with both seats being decided on June 23, and GCSE students sitting exams this summer.
Other events that week include England playing New Zealand in a test match in Leeds, the British athletics championships in Manchester, and gigs in London’s Hyde Park by Elton John (June 24) and the Rolling Stones (June 25).
Rail chiefs were last night scrambling to put in place contingency measures which would see freight trains prioritised over passenger services to prevent blackouts in some areas and ensure supermarket shelves and petrol forecourts remain stocked.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said railway workers had been ‘treated appallingly’ and ‘despite our best efforts in negotiations, the rail industry with the support of the government has failed to take their concerns seriously’.
Over the last decade, the median earnings for train drivers have risen 39 per cent, far above the national average of 23 per cent, or 15 per cent for nurses. Train drivers on average earn £59,000, compared with £31,000 for nurses and £41,000 for police officers. Rail workers can also retire at 62, earlier than civil servants, nurses and teachers.
Tory MP Greg Smith, who sits on the Commons transport committee, said: ‘This is our first proper summer of people getting back on and enjoying great sporting, musical and cultural occasions only to find that the summer’s going to be wrecked by dinosaur action from a different era holding the country to ransom.
‘It’s time the RMT woke up, understood the damage they’re causing to people’s lives and livelihoods and got on with providing the service that the nation relies on.’
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps described the announcement as ‘incredibly disappointing’ and urged the union to return to talks with the rail industry in a bid to prevent ‘driving passengers from the rail network for good’.
The transport watchdog said it is ‘passengers who suffer most’ and said it is vital both parties continue talks to prevent uncertainty.
It comes as the RMT also announced another 24-hour strike on London Underground in a separate row over jobs and pensions.
Tube workers will strike for a second time this month on June 21 to coincide with the first rail strike, threatening widespread travel chaos.
Meanwhile, hundreds of check-in and ground staff employed by British Airways at Heathrow began voting on strike action yesterday.
Members of the Unite and GMB unions are being balloted in a dispute over pay which could cause yet more chaos at the UK’s busiest airport during the summer holiday period.
Travellers continue to experience delays and cancelled flights at Britain’s airports, with thousands of families left stranded abroad.
The union said it will be the biggest strike on the railways since 1989.
Union members voted overwhelmingly for action last month in growing rows over pay and job losses.
The union wants a guarantee that no compulsory redundancies will be made as ministers ask the industry to make £2billion in savings after being bailed out during the pandemic and passenger numbers stabilising at around 75 per cent post-pandemic.
It also wants pay rises for members in line with the RPI rate of inflation – currently 11.1 per cent.
The RMT said rail staff who worked through the pandemic were facing pay freezes and hundreds of job cuts.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘Railway workers have been treated appallingly and despite our best efforts in negotiations, the rail industry with the support of the government has failed to take their concerns seriously.
‘We have a cost-of-living crisis, and it is unacceptable for railway workers to either lose their jobs or face another year of a pay freeze when inflation is at 11.1 per cent and rising.
‘Our union will now embark on a sustained campaign of industrial action which will shut down the railway system.
‘Rail companies are making at least £500m a year in profits, while fat cat rail bosses have been paid millions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘This unfairness is fuelling our members anger and their determination to win a fair settlement.
‘RMT is open to meaningful negotiations with rail bosses and ministers, but they will need to come up with new proposals to prevent months of disruption on our railways.’
Union boss Mick Lynch was pictured enjoying his journey on the new Elizabeth Line after his RMT union voted to strike across much of the capital’s underground network on Monday, causing widespread chaos in London with most zone 1 stations closed
The June 21 strike will see 40,000 workers from Network Rail, which is in charge of infrastructure, and 13 train companies covering most of the country walkout for 24 hours.
In addition 10,000 London Underground workers will strike, also bringing most of the capital’s transport network to a grinding halt.
The 40,000 mainline workers will then strike again on June 23 and 25.
A senior rail industry source said that calling the strikes every other day that week was designed to have maximum impact.
They said: ‘It completely screws the network on the day of strikes and for most of the next days when strikes aren’t happening.
‘Three days, midnight to midnight, basically screws the entire week.’ This is because signallers and other critical workers often start 12-hour shifts at 8pm or 10pm.
But because they won’t turn up on strike days, many won’t be in place to get the railways running again the following morning on non-strike days.
The source added: ‘What it means now is that we will have to do the contingency planning for vital freight routes that we were hoping to avoid.
‘We’ll work with the freight industry over the next two weeks to identify critical routes where freight needs to be delivered and reschedule them into the timetable, prioritising freight over passenger services.’ It means even more passenger trains face being taken out of service.
Ministers have been told that multiple-day strikes could lead to lights going out in places due to freight services being hit.
Industry insiders point to Drax power station in North Yorkshire, which can only stockpile supplies sufficient for two or three days and services millions of homes.
Tesco and Puma Energy, which supplies garage forecourts, have also raised concerns about supply lines.
Network Rail chief Andrew Haines said: ‘We continue to meet with our trades unions to discuss their pay concerns and we’re doing everything we can to avoid strike action on the railway.
‘We know that the cost of living has increased and we want to give our people a pay rise, but the RMT must recognise we are a public body and any pay increase has to be affordable for taxpayers and passengers.
‘Travel habits have changed forever and the railway must change as well.
‘We cannot expect to take more than our fair share of public funds, and so we must modernise our industry to put it on a sound financial footing for the future.