The RMT union has called for another nationwide strike on the railways, to take place on Wednesday 27th July.
Unlike the previous strike which was for three days spread out over a week, this is just a one-day only strike, but will still cause considerable disruption to the railways, not just on the strike day, but also likely on the evening the night before and the morning after.
The RMT says that it was offered a pay deal for Network Rail staff of 4 per cent this year and 4 per cent next year, which it described as a real terms pay cut over the next two years and would also involve cutting a third of all frontline maintenance roles and halve the amount of scheduled maintenance work.
RMT says that it has yet to receive a pay offer or guarantees over job losses from the train operating companies (TOCs).
Network Rail members will strike from 2am on Wednesday July 27th for 24 hours. And RMT members working the train companies will take action from 00.01 until 23:59 on the 27th July.
The strike goes ahead unless called off if a pay deal is agreed.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said “We have made progress on compulsory redundancies. But Network Rail are still seeking to make our members poorer when we have won in some cases double what they are offering, with other rail operators.”
“The train operating companies remain stubborn and are refusing to make any new offer which deals with job security and pay.”
Responding, Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, said: “We have been clear that we can only fund an increase from our own budgets, and the only way we can afford that is by modernising working practices. The RMT’s rejection of our latest offer can only mean they want a pay increase to be funded either by more taxpayer support or higher passenger fares, neither of which we think are fair.”
There’s also a likelihood that an Aslef strike that was authorised earlier this week but cannot happen before 27th July due to the two-weeks notice needed could also take place around the same time, exacerbating the disruption for passengers.
The unions have both said that they are open to collaborating on strikes, and the biggest hit would be for one of the unions to strike on one day, and the other to strike two days later — in effect three days of disruption.
That Aslef strike of train drivers and staff would affect most of the rail companies operating around London, and also the London Overground.
