Rail workers to bring British network to a halt with three-day strike in June

Read More

Rail workers are to strike for three days in late June, in a move that is likely to halt much of the national rail network for a week.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union has told members to prepare for strikes on 21, 23 and 25 June, after a ballot of 40,000 members last month saw staff at Network Rail and 14 train operating companies vote overwhelmingly for full-scale industrial action.

Union members in London will prepare to hold a further tube strike on 21 June, in a coordinated move designed to head off possible job cuts at Transport for London and in the national rail network.

The planned strikes, starting on the Tuesday and running through until Saturday, cover the busiest days of the week for rail since the pandemic. They will occur on the week of two byelections and disrupt travel to major events including the Glastonbury festival.

Neither Network Rail nor train operators have yet threatened compulsory redundancies but have been told to find ?1-2bn in annual savings, with passenger numbers still significantly below pre-Covid levels.

More follows …