Railway workers union shuts down UK trains and London Underground on Tuesday
About five million passengers in the UK will be affected this Tuesday by a strike by workers from the national rail network, the companies that commercially operate the lines and the London Underground. The companies have advised citizens not to use this mode of transport unless it is essential. The impact on the flow of other modes of transport will be significant.
The strike on the London Underground, which carries two million passengers daily, will last only one day. Employees of the national train network were also called on on Thursday and Saturday to go on strike. This call will affect commuter trains in London. Airline passengers have a limited number of trains at their disposal during those three days. London’s largest airport, Heathrow, will only lose tube connections to the center of the capital on Tuesday.
The strike has been called by the RMT union, which brings together workers from different occupational categories in the railway sector, and by other unions representing smaller sectors of the industry. It is a union that has a reputation for being combative and has faced internal tensions in its leadership in recent years.
While complaints on the London Underground are not identical to those of the national network, union leaders cite job cuts, imposition of changes in working methods, wage proposals far removed from inflation or cuts in occupational pension contributions. for employees fund.
In London, the protest is directed against the municipal authority ‘Transport for London’ and the government. The city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, is in a public dispute with Transport Minister Grant Shapps over its financing. The latest package that both sides agreed to save money, following the collapse in passenger numbers caused by the pandemic, was accompanied by a cost reduction and reform plan.
In the case of the national network, the pandemic also caused a collapse in the revenues of the private companies operating the lines after they were awarded at auction. The government took away their financial autonomy. A new body negotiates union demands on behalf of the companies. The minister would have set a maximum salary increase of 2% at an inflation rate of 9%, but has refused to participate in the negotiations.
The other piece of railway structure, privatized by the John Major government in the mid-1990s, is Network Rail. It owns tracks, stations and infrastructure in general. It was renationalized because of the chaos it caused in its early years. Historical evolution has now led to a hybrid system between public and private, and centralized. The government is the shadow director of the industry.
Source: La Verdad
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