Three days of national train strikes are set to happen later this month.
21, 23 and 25 June are the dates to mark in your diary, as over 50,000 railway workers will walk out, which will lead to large scale disruption nationally — a statement on the RMT website says the action "will shut down the country's railway network".
Those on strike include Network Rail staff, staff of 13 different train companies and London Underground staff.
At the moment, London Underground staff are only due to walk out on 21 June, and not the 23 and 25 June, meaning we should see less disruption here in the capital than elsewhere around the country. Theirs is a separate dispute to that of staff belonging to other companies, relating to pensions and job losses.
Other train companies affected by all three days of the strike action are Network Rail, Chiltern Railways, Cross Country Trains, Greater Anglia, LNER, East Midlands Railway, c2c, Great Western Railway, Northern Trains, Southeastern, South Western Railway, Transpennine Express, Avanti West Coast and West Midlands Trains.
Why are railway staff striking?
The threat of these strikes has been in the air for a couple of weeks now, since the RMT balloted its members on the possibility of strike action. The reason for the strikes? Planned pay freezes, and plans to cut thousands of jobs, according to the RMT.
Will the railway strikes definitely go ahead?
There's always a chance that these things may get called off, if an agreement is reached before hand.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said:
RMT is open to meaningful negotiations with rail bosses and ministers, but they will need to come up with new proposals to prevent months of disruption on our railways.
Andrew Haines, Network Rail's chief executive, said:
We continue to meet with our trades unions to discuss their pay concerns and we’re doing everything we can to avoid strike action on the railway. There are a few weeks until the first strike is planned. We will use this time to keep talking to our unions and... we hope to find a solution.
