Piccadilly line trains are parked at their depot as members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union go on strike, particularly to secure a pay rise, Friday August 19, 2022. FRANK AUGSTEIN / AP
In the face of high inflation, the British mobilization continues. After an initial strike by railway workers on Thursday and a strike on the London Underground on Friday, UK transport was hit again by a one-day strike for wage increases on Saturday 20 August.
Because of this strike, in the middle of the school holidays on Saturday, only about every fifth train runs a wage increase adjusted to the rise in the cost of living at the call of the demanding unions Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT), Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) and Unite.
Negotiations with the large number of private railway operators in the industry have so far come to a standstill. For his part, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who has been accused of deadlocking the situation, has criticized unions for opposing reforms to modernize the railways and pledged on Friday he could enact them.
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Saturday’s strike particularly disrupts traffic for tourists, football fans going to matches and festival-goers. Train traffic on Sunday morning should also be affected.
The post office and ports are also on strike
The UK is currently experiencing a new volley of massive strikes affecting transport, post and ports in particular. It is the biggest strike in decades against inflation, which hit 10.1% over a year in July and could surpass 13% in October, the highest for a G7 country.
Dockers at the port of Felixstowe (east England) – the country’s main cargo port – begin an eight-day strike on Sunday, threatening to paralyze much of the country’s freight traffic.
On the rail side, Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT, said the strikers had public support and said they were “right behind us”. “I think the British public is fed up with being ripped off by this government and British companies, with companies like BP and British Gas making huge profits while people struggle to make a living,” he said on Saturday to the BBC.
While rail workers’ strikes have continued in spasms since June, Mick Lynch has assured that he will continue to look for ‘solutions’ but thought the prospect of new strikes was ‘very likely’.
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