Rail strikes are set to resume in the UK in October after several days of industrial action were cancelled by unions in the wake of the death of Queen Elizabeth II earlier this month.
The RMT union has announced a 24-hour stoppage on Saturday, 1 October, in an ongoing dispute with rail bosses over pay, job security and working conditions, which saw around 40,000 railway workers walking out during the summer in the largest UK rail strike for more than 30 years.
Train drivers union Aslef will also hold strike action on 1 and 5 October at 12 operating companies in a separate pay dispute.
RMT members had been due to strike again on 15 and 17 September but the union cancelled these two days’ of action following the Queen’s death on 8 September.
But following the Queen’s state funeral on Monday (19 September), the RMT was quick to announce its latest 24-hour strike after it “received no further offers from the rail industry to help come to a negotiated settlement”.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Transport workers are joining a wave of strike action on 1 October, sending a clear message to the government and employers that working people will not accept continued attacks on pay and working conditions at a time when big business profits are at an all-time high.
“The summer of solidarity we have seen will continue into the autumn and winter if employers and the government continue to refuse workers reasonable demands.
“We want a settlement to these disputes where our members and their families can get a square deal and we will not rest until we get a satisfactory outcome.”
The RMT is in dispute with Network Rail and 14 train operating companies: Chiltern Railways, Cross Country Trains, Greater Anglia, LNER, East Midlands Railway, c2c, Great Western Railway, Northern Trains, South Eastern, South Western Railway, TransPennine Express, Avanti West Coast, West Midlands Trains and GTR (including Gatwick Express).
Aslef members, who had been due to strike on 15 September, will now take action on 1 and 5 October at 12 operators: Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, Cross Country, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Hull Train, LNER, London Overground, Northern Trains, Southeastern, TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains.
Other transport workers from Arriva Rail London, Hull Trains and First Group Southwest buses are also due to go on strike on 1 October in their own separate disputes.
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents the train operators, said the new strikes would “hugely inconvenience” the UK’s train passengers.
“The strikes are not in the long-term interests of rail workers or building a sustainable rail industry,” added a Rail Delivery Group spokesperson.
“We want to give our people a pay rise, but without the reforms we are proposing, we simply cannot deliver pay increases. Revenue is still around 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, no business can survive that scale of upheaval without implementing change.
“We want to see the industry and its people thrive - we are asking the unions’ leadership to do the right thing, call off these damaging strikes and work with us to make that happen.”