Rail workers in the United Kingdom started the new year with a weeklong strike that began on Tuesday, Jan. 3, with union bosses warning of more industrial actions to come if negotiations don’t bear any fruits.
These rail strikes have been ongoing for months across the U.K. as soaring inflation and stagnant wage growth have made the paychecks of rail workers shrink drastically.
As a result, around half of all railway lines in the U.K. are currently closed, and only a fifth of rail services are running on time. Train services like those going into London operated by Thameslink, Southern and Southeastern, have come to a complete halt. Other rail operations like Great Western Rail are running heavily reduced services.
Train drivers represented by the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) and other rail workers represented by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) have walked out of the job and set up picket lines following unresolved disputes with rail companies and the British government over pay, benefits and working conditions. (Related: Biden preparing to pay off unions using tens of billions of taxpayer dollars with massive pension bailouts.)
“The longer this goes on, the likelihood of escalations goes up,” warned ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan, who recently received a renewed mandate from union members to keep conducting strike actions up until June. “We don’t want to go on strike, but the companies have pushed us into this place.”
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