The railway employees union paralyzes British trains and the London Underground on Tuesday
About five million passengers in the United Kingdom will be affected this Tuesday by the strike of employees of the national rail network, the companies that commercially operate the lines and the London Underground. The companies have recommended that citizens not use this means of transport unless it is essential. The impact on the flow of other means of transport will be strong.
The strike on the London Underground, which carries two million passengers daily, will last just one day. Employees of the national train network have also been called on strike on Thursday and Saturday. This appeal will affect commuter trains in London. Airline passengers will have a limited number of trains available for 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 employees from different professional categories in the railway sector, and by other unions representing smaller sectors of the industry. It is a union with a reputation for combativeness and which has suffered internal tensions in its leadership in recent years.
Although the complaints in the London underground are not identical to those of the national network, the union leaders mention the reduction of jobs, imposition of changes in the way of working, wage proposals far removed from inflation or reductions in contributions to the company employee pension fund.
Structure
In London the protest is against the municipal entity ‘Transport for London’ and the Government. The city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, is in a public dispute with transport minister Grant Shapps over its funding. The last package agreed by both parties to save finances, as a result of the collapse in the number of passengers due to the pandemic, was accompanied by a cost reduction and a reform plan.
In the case of the national network, the pandemic also caused a collapse in the income of the private companies that operate 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 put a ceiling on salary increases of 2%, when inflation is 9%, but he has refused to participate in the negotiation.
The other component of the railway structure, privatized by the Government of John Major in the mid-1990s, is Network Rail. It owns tracks, stations and infrastructure in general. It was renationalized for 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.
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