Is there a train strike today? Everything you need to know

After members of the RMT rail union voted 8:1 in favour of strike motion over jobs, pay and situations, their union has known as nationwide rail strikes for 3 dates in late June.

Union members at Community Rail and 13 prepare operators will stage 24-hour walkouts on 21, 23 and 25 June.

What may the impact be? And are different disputes on the horizon?

These are the important thing questions and solutions.

What is that this dispute about?

Britain’s largest rail union, the RMT, has known as three days of commercial motion at each Community Rail and 13 prepare operators over pay, redundancies and “a assure there shall be no detrimental adjustments to working practices”.

It says: “Community Rail and the prepare working corporations have subjected their workers to multi-year pay freezes and plan to chop 1000’s of jobs which is able to make the railways unsafe.”

The union’s normal secretary, Mick Lynch, has vowed “a sustained marketing campaign of commercial motion which is able to shut down the railway system”.

When precisely are the strikes?

Tuesday 21, Thursday 23 and Saturday 25 June. The commercial motion is more likely to have an effect on companies instantly earlier than and after the strike dates, in addition to the intervening Wednesday and Friday.

The strike coincides with quite a few huge occasions in late June:

The stoppage may additionally have an effect on college college students who journey by prepare; it coincides with historical past and physics exams.

The pattern over the previous few years in rail disputes is for a collection of 24-hour strikes to be known as. That limits the monetary hit sustained by hanging staff, however nonetheless causes widespread disruption.

How huge was the bulk in favour of hanging?

Of the 71 per cent of members who voted, 89 per cent backed strike motion. This represents 63 per cent of the workforce balloted, numbering greater than 25,000 staff.

In keeping with the RMT, it’s “the largest dispute on the community since 1989” and can contain 40,000 staff.

Simply remind me about Community Rail and the prepare operators …

Community Rail is the infrastructure supplier. Probably the most important roles within the day-to-day operating of the railway are the signallers, who quantity round 5,000.

Prepare operators are assigned a patch of the community on which to run trains. These whose RMT members voted in favour of strike motion are:

At one prepare operator, GTR, backing was too low to move the edge for a strike. GTR runs Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Categorical and Nice Northern companies in southeast England.

What is going to the impact be of a 24-hour strike?

Assuming all Community Rail signallers stroll out, administration and different workers ought to be capable of cowl about 20 per cent of the community for about 12 hours per day. It’s doubtless that solely major strains can be served, primarily these radiating from London:

As well as, key commuter strains serving London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds can be stored open.

However there can be strict limits on the quantity of visitors alternative signallers may deal with. On many strains, no trains would run in any respect.

Even on these strains which have signalling, strikes by staff for prepare operators may imply that fewer than one prepare in 5 runs.

The direct financial harm is estimated at £30m per day.

How will the passengers reply?

Rail journey habits have basically modified because the begin of the coronavirus pandemic, with many former commuters in a position to make money working from home. For them, the strikes can be irrelevant.

Key staff who should be current at their place of employment – from well being service workers and academics to hospitality staff – can be badly affected.

Some leisure and enterprise passengers could abandon plans to purchase Advance tickets for summer time dates due to the specter of a stoppage.

The federal government is encouraging a pattern from rail to street by elevating rail fares and slicing gasoline obligation. This pattern is more likely to speed up if a strike is named.

What are my rights if my prepare is cancelled?

You’re entitled to a full refund. Prepare operators won’t meet claims for various transport.

What does either side say?

The RMT says: “We have now a cost-of-living disaster, and it’s unacceptable for railway staff to both lose their jobs or face one other yr of a pay freeze when inflation is at 11.1pc and rising.

“Rail corporations are making not less than £500m a yr in earnings, while fats cat rail bosses have been paid tens of millions through the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This unfairness is fuelling our members anger and their dedication to win a good settlement.

“RMT is open to significant negotiations with rail bosses and ministers, however they might want to give you new proposals to forestall months of disruption on our railways.”

Steve Montgomery, group chair of the Rail Supply Group, representing prepare operators, stated: “Nobody wins within the occasion of a strike. Employees lose pay, the business loses important income making it tougher to afford pay will increase, and passengers and companies are disrupted.

“Whereas we are going to preserve as many companies operating as attainable, sadly if this motion goes forward, vital disruption shall be inevitable. We subsequently urge passengers to plan their journeys fastidiously and discover alternative routes to journey through the strike interval the place attainable.” 

In the end the federal government will determine what may be supplied. The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, stated: “It’s extremely disappointing the RMT have determined to take motion that might drive passengers away from the rail community for good.

“The pandemic has modified journey habits – with 25 per cent fewer ticket gross sales and the taxpayer stepping in to maintain the railways operating at a price of £16bn, equal to £600 per family. We should act now to place the business on a sustainable footing.”

May we see an extended strikes?

Unlikely. The desire of the RMT union is for repeated one-day strikes.

There are a number of exceptions, such because the South Western Railway strike in December 2019, by which RMT members took industrial motion for nearly the whole month in a dispute over the position of guards. The prepare operator ran about half its regular companies.

The rest within the offing?

Transport for Wales and ScotRail weren’t concerned within the RMT poll – however ScotRail is at the moment cancelling 700 trains per day on account of a dispute involving the prepare drivers’ union, Aslef.

The white-collar rail union, TSSA, is threatening what its normal secretary known as “a summer time of discontent”. Members are being consulted forward of a attainable strike poll if pay fails to maintain tempo with inflation – which hit 9 per cent final week.

Ministers say they might mandate a minimal degree of staffing. How would that work?

Earlier than the strike announcement, the transport secretary advised The Sunday Telegraph that ministers are drawing up legal guidelines which might make industrial motion unlawful until a sure variety of workers are working to make sure minimal service ranges.

Comparable legal guidelines are in place in different international locations – and are sometimes invoked when air-traffic controllers cease work.

However Mick Lynch stated: stated: “Any try by Grant Shapps to make efficient strike motion unlawful on the railways shall be met with the fiercest resistance from RMT and the broader commerce union motion.

“We have now not fought tooth and nail for railway staff since our forebears arrange the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants in 1872, with the intention to meekly settle for a future the place our members are prevented from legally withdrawing their labour.”