Rail strikes: Pubs and bars breathe sigh of relief – but walkouts are still planned
London’s hospitality sector has welcomed RMT trade members’ vote to accept a pay offer from Network Rail, after the strikes and disruptions cost restaurant and pub business up to £3bn.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive at UKHospitality, described the decision as “encouraging news” for hospitality businesses.
She said: “There’s plenty still to be done, of course, with ongoing negotiations between other employee groups, but I hope that this agreement paves the way for rail and tube strikes to end completely.”
“Venues across the country have so far incurred lost sales upwards of £3 billion and would have struggled immensely to deal with that level of ongoing disruption.
“I would encourage everyone involved to continue their urgent negotiations and bring to an end strikes that have heaped misery on businesses, consumers and workers for almost a year.”
The deal will see an end to rail strikes which hospitality businesses said caused the sector to “suffer”.
Just last week, the tube and rail strikes that took place were expected to see pub and restaurant businesses in the capital expected to lose as much as £600m.
The strikes which have been taking place since last summer expected to cost the hospitality sector up to £3bn in losses.