Rail service update: More strikes!
More national rail strikes have been called as 40,000 RMT members at Network Rail and 14 Train-Operating Companies strike again on 15 and 17 September. The workers are in dispute over an insulting pay offer, job cuts and working conditions. This will be the third round of action. The first date is coordinated with another Aslef train drivers’ strike that will mean virtually no trains running. The TSSA union is also striking on 26 September.
The strike dates in full:
Thursday 15 September: Aslef and RMT unions both on strike. Virtually no trains will run on most lines, particularly those where drivers are on strike: Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, CrossCountry, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, LNER, London Overground, Northern, Southeastern, TransPennine and West Midlands Trains. Some disruption is likely to persist on the morning of 16 September.
Saturday 17 September: RMT strike – likely to see a limited service on main lines, broadly about 20% of normal schedule between 7am and 7pm. After-effects will result in continued disruption on morning of 18 September.
Monday 26 September: TSSA strike for 24 hours from midday by some members at Network Rail and nine train companies.
Nurses ballot for strike action
Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union in the NHS in England and Wales will start balloting for strike action over pay on 15 September.
The union is recommending workers vote ‘yes’, which if they do, would be the first time in RCN history that members in England and Wales go on strike. The RCN has increased its strike fund to £50 million in preparation for the struggle.
The ballot is in response to the latest NHS pay offer of £1,400 for all NHS pay bands, which leaves many nurses worse off, and is far below the 15% nurses have been calling for.
NHS workers in other unions are also preparing to ballot for action. These ballots and strikes should be coordinated in the NHS and also with other public sector workers who are set to strike over pay this autumn.
Strike at Amazon
Amazon workers in Coventry have voted to indicate they are ready to take strike action over pay.
More than 300 workers voted in the consultative ballot at the fulfilment centre in the West Midlands, with 97% saying they were ready to walk out.
Amazon workers across the UK have staged protests and walkouts against a pay offer of just 35p an hour from the company.
The GMB union will now meet with members at Amazon Coventry to discuss next steps, including a potential formal strike ballot.
Arriva bus workers strike
900 bus workers at Arriva buses in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire walked out for 48 hours on 5 September over a ‘pay cut dressed up as a rise’. Arriva is offering drivers, admin staff, engineers, cleaners and shunters pay rises of between 4% and 6%, but this is a real-terms pay cut given the current rate of inflation. Meanwhile, Arriva has paid £560 million from its UK operations to owner Deutsche Bahn since 2012.
