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The union behind June’s national rail strike says it can’t rule rule out more industrial action this summer.
A week on from last Saturday’s third 24-hour walk-out, the RMT insists support for its campaign is as strong as ever and it will propose more disruption if an agreement cannot be reached.
More than 30,000 staff working across Network Rail and 13 train operating companies walked out last month in a show of unity.
Their decision to down tools led to disruption across the network as they campaigned for pay rises to reflect the increasing cost of living and a guarantee of no redundancies.
Despite further talks, no agreement with rail bosses has been reached so far and General Secretary Mick Lynch said yesterday that he won’t rule out further action if both parties can’t agree on a solution and will call further strikes straight away if Network Rail begins consulting on redundancies.
He said: “The claims made by the rail industry that support for our strike is waning are a fallacy. The people who turned up for work were managers and contractors who were not balloted, in a vain attempt to break the strike.
“Despite attempts to undermine our action, the rail network barely ran any services and many of those were delayed on a tiny timetable.
“Without the work of RMT members, the railway network cannot run in this country. And we will take further effective strike action if a negotiated settlement on pay, and job security cannot be reached.”
When might there be another rail strike?
Trade Unions are required by law to give two-weeks notice before any planned strike, so for those trying to calculate if any industrial action may upset summer plans, there should always be 14 days between confirming a date and the strike itself going ahead.
But the RMT is not the only union to be balloting railway workers about industrial action.
The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) union is now balloting hundreds of its members in a dispute over pay, conditions and job security.
The ballot, which opened on June 23 and will close on July 11, is one of a number the TSSA is conducting across the UK with its members working at train operating companies nationwide.
TSSA is demanding a guarantee from Kent’s rail operator, which is now owned by the Department for Transport, of no compulsory redundancies for 2022, no unagreed changes to terms and conditions and a pay increase which it says will ‘reflect the rising cost of living’.
Should the ballot return a majority in favour of strike action – the first available date for a strike is listed as July 25 at the start of the school holidays.
Who else is going on strike this summer?
* On Thursday, 30,000 BT workers voted to go on strike in a row over pay with the Communication Workers Union’s general secretary Dave Ward saying the company now faced its first national strike since the 1980s.
* More than 115,000 Royal Mail workers will begin voting next week on whether they too will go out on strike and ballot papers are expected to return a result by July 19.
* Post Office staff at 114 Crown Post Offices, the larger branches found in some high streets, will walk out on July 11 in a row over pay.
* Barristers have vowed to continue their strike action and will walk out again next week halting court hearings across the country.
* British Airways workers at Heathrow have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action which could take place during the summer holidays.
* The Fire Brigades Union has recommended that its members reject a 2% pay offer prompting speculation that firefighters could also join in with industrial action this year.
* Teaching union the NEU says it will look to ballot its members in October if it doesn’t receive an adequate pay offer from the government.
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