A third union has threatened to join the “summer of discontent” if its salary and working conditions demands are not met. The majority of the strike action is slated to occur for nine days around the end of June.
Aslef has confirmed that drivers for Hull Trains, Greater Anglia, and Croydon Tramlink have all opted to engage in strike action over pay disagreements.
Greater Anglia is the owner and operator of the Stansted Express, a direct route between the airport and London Liverpool Street; hence, a strike by Greater Anglia might make the lives of vacationers miserable.
It follows the announcement by the RMT union that up to 50,000 of its members across Network Rail, 13 train operators, and the London Underground will strike for three days in June, the largest rail strike since 1989.
The three-day strike action has the potential to “shut down the system.”
In the coming days, Network Rail and the union are anticipated to hold discussions, with the former drafting contingency measures to mitigate the service disruption.
Fewer than one-fifth of trains are likely to operate, and only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., and most likely just on main routes.
The majority of the strike will occur for nine days at the end of June.
The first RMT strike is slated to occur on June 21, 23, and 25. It is anticipated that these strikes may disrupt services for six days.
In the meanwhile, members of Aslef at Hull Trains will go on strike on June 26, at Greater Anglia on June 23, and at Croydon Tramlink on June 28 and 29, and July 13 and 14.
A third union may join the “summer of discontent”
Members of a third union, TSSA, could join the strikes, adding to the travel disruption.
In a disagreement over salary, conditions, and job security, TSSA has filed a notice to ballot hundreds of Avanti West Coast employees.
Depending on the outcome of a vote by the union’s 300 members, strike action on the railway line could begin on July 13th.
Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the TSSA, predicted a summer of unrest on the nation’s railroads.
“We are preparing for all possibilities, including coordinated strike action.” And if our Avanti employees go on strike, the trains will cease running.”
Avanti operates passenger train services and stations between London Euston and Birmingham, Crewe, Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow, among others.
Ticket agencies that sell “just one ticket per week.”
As part of efforts to reduce transportation costs, the prime minister stated today in Blackpool that “the time has come” to close inefficient train ticket counters across the United Kingdom and replace them with automated systems.
Boris Johnson stated, “We are on your side in reducing transportation costs, and not simply because of the tremendous investments we are making.”
“It is time to grasp the nettle of reform and act intelligently and responsibly to put an end to some outmoded work practices.
In this country, there are fully staffed ticket offices that sell fewer than one ticket every week.
During his tenure as mayor of London, the closure of ticket offices on the London Underground in favor of automatic ticketing was described as “initially painful,” but he added, “We successfully argued that staff were better and more productively deployed on the platforms interacting with the public.”
The time has arrived to implement uniformity throughout the transportation network.
Labour demonstrates support for train employees
Lisa Nandy, the shadow leveling up secretary, stated earlier today that she supports train workers but refrained from directly endorsing the scheduled strike action.
“I supported our rail workers just as I supported our junior physicians and nurses when they rebelled against the abuse they were receiving from the administration,”
“The way to develop strong public services is not to attack the people who operate those services, is not to attack those who work day in and day out to keep them running – the way is to support them.”
