Only 20% of UK train services running as 45,000 rail workers go on strike – business live

Key events 21m ago RMT chief warns rail dispute could go on ‘indefinitely’ 52m ago RMT’s Lynch fears solution not possible due to ‘political interference’ 1h ago Introduction: Only 20% of UK train services running as 45,000 rail workers go on strike Filters BETA Key events ( 3 ) RMT ( 5 ) Network Rail ( 3 ) London ( 3 ) 21m ago 08. 52 RMT chief warns rail dispute could go on ‘indefinitely’ RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has warned that the rail dispute could go on“indefinitely,” as the latest strike by thousands of workers caused travel misery for passengers. He called on the government to end its refusal to get involved in talks over pay, jobs and conditions, as he joined a picket line outside Euston station in London.

Only around one in five trains are running across the country because of the walkout by members of the RMT and TSSA unions. Lynch has written to the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, saying: . css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.

5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Your government has made the decision to use taxpayers’ money to bail out private train companies from being liable for revenue lost because of industrial action on the condition the same companies comply with government instructions to hold down pay, cut thousands of safety critical rail jobs, introduce driver only trains and close ticket offices across the network. Lynch said the union had calculated that, including the previous and forthcoming industrial action, more than £120m of taxpayers’ money had been used to “bail out” private train companies to date. He told the PA news agency: .

css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Using taxpayers’ money to satisfy the anti-union agenda of the Tory party and seek to break the trade unions is shameful and means the dispute will be prolonged indefinitely as the train companies don’t lose a penny as a result of the industrial action and therefore have no incentive to settle the disputes. Instead of waging an ideological war against rail workers, millions of voters would rather that the Government allow for a fair negotiated settlement.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: . css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Yet again, for the sixth time since June, union leaders are opting to inflict misery and disrupt the day-to-day lives of millions instead of working with industry to agree a deal that will bring our railways into the 21st century.

It’s clear strikes are not the powerful tool they once were and union chiefs are no longer able to bring the country to a standstill as, unlike them, the world has changed and people simply work from home. All these strikes are doing is hurting those people the unions claim to represent, many of whom will again be out of pocket and forced to miss a day’s work. We urge union bosses to do the right thing by their members and let them have their say on Network Rail’s very fair deal, which will deliver the reforms our rail system urgently needs.

It’s time to get off the picket lines and back around the negotiating table – the future of our railway depends on it. Updated at 08. 57 BST 30m ago 08.

44 Train passengers are suffering fresh misery today as rail workers strike again over pay and conditions. Chris Page, chair of Rail Future: “People who get a good experience travelling by car today won’t come back, which means fewer rail jobs. ” JuliaHB1 | @Railfuture pic.

twitter. com/7Ja8D5rn3W — TalkTV (@TalkTV) August 18, 2022 The industrial action will cause four days of disruption to services, with one union warning it “will not back down” until its demands are met https://t. co/OsvW7QuKT2 — Sky News (@SkyNews) August 18, 2022 36m ago 08.

38 Andy Lord, TfL’s chief operating officer, has apologised to customers for the disruption. . css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.

5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} I would like to apologise to our customers for the strike action being carried out by RMT and Unite, which will have a significant impact on the city’s transport network. I understand how frustrating these strikes are and I’d like to remind the RMT and Unite that it’s not too late to work with us, Arriva Rail London and RATP to find a resolution and avoid the huge disruption this action will cause to people’s journeys and to the economy. Customers should check before they travel from 18-21 August, as strike action is impacting different modes of transport each day.

For 19 August, we are urging our customers to avoid travelling on the Tube and only travel if essential on the rest of the network. We expect little to no service on the Tube until 08:00 on Saturday 20 August and alternative travel modes are likely to be busy. Please consider walking and cycling if you need to travel.

38m ago 08. 36 Transport for London has reminded customers to “only travel if essential” ahead of tube, rail and bus strikes on Friday, and national rail strikes today and on Saturday. Tube, rail and bus strikes will affect the majority of TfL’s network on Friday 19 August.

Customers are advised to avoid travelling on the Tube and only travel on the rest of the TfL network if essential Strike action by Unite is taking place on some London bus services in west and southwest London on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 August. Customers are encouraged to avoid making journeys on affected routes (more details on the TfL website) The RMT is also striking on national rail services on Thursday 18 and Saturday 20 August, which will impact some London Underground, London Overground and Elizabeth line services. Customers using national rail services are advised to avoid travel unless absolutely necessary Disruption from strike action will continue into the following morning, so customers should check before they travel 52m ago 08.

22 RMT’s Lynch fears solution not possible due to ‘political interference’ Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), said he fears finding a solution will not be possible because of “political interference,” as rail workers stage another rail strike. Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain from Euston Station, he said the union had been working with Network Rail and the train operating companies but “the gap between us is still there”. .

css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} We’ve got to find a way to bridge that but I fear that because of the political interference that’s happening with the public transport and the Treasury, we’re not able to do that. We’ve also got a dispute tomorrow with London Underground – which is more of the same that the funding from the railway has been cut and that means an attack on rail workers across the land and I think many workers are suffering from that at this moment.

They’re not getting a square deal but we’ll keep working with the companies to get a negotiated settlement and as soon as we can do that, will put it to our members and hopefully we can get the railway back providing service the that public needs. We will work those problems through but what we need is the management to have the ability to negotiate and I think this has been has been partially caught up in the Tory leadership election or selection process that they’re going through and I think because those candidates have both both taken a turn to the hard right in this country, it’s very difficult to find the the ability to create a settlement. Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) on the picket line outside London Euston train station.

Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA 1h ago 08. 07 Introduction: Only 20% of UK train services running as 45,000 rail workers go on strike Good morning, and welcome to our live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets. Many train platforms will be eerily quiet today on the first day of new rail strikes.

Commuters and other travellers are facing further disruption over the next three days on rail, tube and bus services. More than 45,000 rail workers go out on strike today, mainly from the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), in long-running disputes over pay, jobs and conditions. Rail strikes: Britons face three more days of disruption from Thursday Read more Both sides were talking about the latest strike action on BBC radio 4’s Today programme this morning.

Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail, complained about . css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} slow negotiations, painful negotiations moving over all the place, absolute lack of clarity in what it would take to call the strike off, shifting goalposts.

They’re not good and we’re desperate to bring this to a resolution in a way that’s affordable for the country and which avoids the pain for my colleagues. This is the biggest strikes that we’ve seen perhaps for 30 years on the railway and that’s because the employers, myself and the rail operators, supported by the government are saying the economic crisis which Covid has precipitated demands that we modernise. Also on the radio, speaking from Euston station, Luke Chester, organising director at the TSSA in London, said the dispute was about pay, job security and working conditions.

. css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} TSSA members have not taken industrial action for a very long time in the majority of cases.

It’s not something that we take lightly, it’s something that we take seriously. What we need to resolve this dispute is a pay rise which reflects the cost of living increase that is affecting most people in this country very severely, we need job security …and we require guarantees from the employers that they are not going to rip up people’s contracts of employment, that they are not going to change conditions of working in the way we’ve seen for example at P&O. He said the unions were “100%” willing to negotiate on working conditions and working practices, but had not been given the guarantees they were looking for.

. css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} What’s slightly disingenuous is that we have zero pay offer from the train operating companies, we have zero guarantees around conditions of service and we have zero guarantees around job security.

So while we’re talking to Network Rail and Mr Haines and his team are sat round the table with us, and we’re trying very very hard and he’s right it’s painful, we’re trying very very hard to make progress with them. Unfortunately we’ve got 15 train operators who are being told by the Department of Transport by Mr Shapps that they are unable and have no mandate to even sit around and make an offer. He stressed that the unions were looking for a “package of measures” and that Merseyrail was able to make a 7.

1% pay offer, which has been accepted by workers, because it is not controlled by the Department of Transport. Rail managers have also accepted a deal, a package of measures including a pay rise and guarantees around job security. Many were previously paid less than the people they managed, he said.

. css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1. 5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Clearly job security is paramount and many of our members haven’t received a pay rise in three years despite being key workers, despite working through the pandemic.

Job security, pay is important and protection of condition of service. Asian shares drifted lower, following in Wall Street’s footsteps, after the US Federal Reserve’s minutes of its July meeting pointed to a steady course of interest rate hikes ahead. The minutes showed policymakers considered paring back the pace of future rate hikes in line with the slowdown in inflation, but saw “little evidence” yet that inflationary pressures were easing.

Japan’s Nikkei, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s blue-chip CSI 300 index all lost nearly 1%. Over here, the UK’s FTSE 100 index dipped 0. 2% to 7,497 while Germany’s Dax opened 0.

2% higher, France’s CAC was flat and Spain’s Ibex edged up 0. 1%. The Agenda 9am BST: Norway Norges Bank interest rate decision (forecast: 1.

75%) 10am BST: Eurozone inflation for July (forecast: 8. 9%) 1. 30pm BST: US Initial jobless claims for week of 13 August (forecast: 265,000) 3pm BST: US Conference Board leading index for July, home sales for July Updated at 08.

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