Britain: Second day of strike by British railway workers

British rail workers are continuing their strike today, a day after fruitless inflation-driven wage negotiations reached record levels of more than 11% at the end of the year.

It is the second largest strike day of the week, followed by a third on Saturday. Only one train at five will run and lines will only be open from 7.30am to 6.30pm, a shorter-than-usual time.

In the face of this historic mobilization, the government today announced its intention to amend the law allowing temporary workers to be used to replace strikers and reduce the impact of strikes.

These arrangements, which must be approved by Parliament, are expected to enter into force in the coming weeks and will be implemented in France, Scotland and Wales.

For Transport Minister Grand Saps, this reform is “vital” and “will guarantee that any future strike will cause less unrest and allow flexible, flexible and fully trained staff to continue working.”

The RMT transport union, which announced the strike, has been calling for wage increases to keep pace with inflation, but has also denounced the prospect of “thousands of layoffs” and deteriorating working conditions.

A Network Rail spokesman said he was “disappointed” by the failure of the talks and called the strike “unnecessary and premature”. This public railway operator has urged travelers not to use trains unless absolutely necessary.

The TSSA union said yesterday that its members in Merseyrail, one of the many private railway companies, had been offered a 7.1% pay rise, putting a little more pressure on the negotiations between RMT and its employees.

“Wage increases are possible and perfectly justified,” the union said in a Twitter post today.

SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ