LONDON: Rail workers in Britain will stage a national strike later this month in a dispute over pay, the RMT union announced, teeing up a move that could bring misery to millions of commuters.
The union said its 16 000 staff at Network Rail, which maintains Britain’s railway infrastructure, including track and signalling, would stage a 24-hour walk-out starting at 16h00 GMT on May 25, which is a public holiday, continuing into May 26, which is a normal working day.
It would be the first nationwide rail strike for 20 years according to media reports, and will provide a challenge to the new Conservative government which has promised to change laws on industrial action to make it harder for those working in essential public services to stage walk-outs.
The failure of the company to make any moves whatsoever in light of the overwhelming vote in the ballot has left us with no option but to move to a rolling programme of industrial action,” RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said.
On Tuesday, the union said 80 percent of members had backed strikes and that 92 percent supported action short of a walk-out.
The union said it was opposed to a one-off non-consolidated payment of 500 pounds for staff this year and was concerned that Network Rail’s was only promising to make no compulsory redundancies for the next two years.
Network Rail, which also manages 18 of Britain’s biggest stations including King’s Cross, Waterloo and Victoria in London, Birmingham New Street and Glasgow Central, said it was wrong that unions could hold the country to ransom.
The railways are a vital public service and industrial action would have a massive impact on millions of passengers as well as freight distribution across Britain,” Mark Carne, its chief executive, said after the ballot result.
We will do everything we can to keep our railways moving during these times of uncertainty and to stop the RMT from behaving in a way that will cause untold misery to our passengers and will hurt the economy.”
He said staff at the not-for-profit company, which employs 35 000 staff in total, had received pay rises eight times higher than other public sector workers over the last four years.
Prime Minister David Cameron’s new government has indicated it will legislate to outlaw strikes in essential public services such as health, transport, or fire services unless turnout is 50 percent and action backed by at least 40 percent of union members.
