Transport secretary: Minimum service level laws not happening anytime soon December 7, 2022 The government’s legislation on guaranteeing minimum service levels during strike days will not be debated anytime soon, according to transport secretary Mark Harper. Introduced in Parliament following this summer’s rail strikes, the bill’s second reading hasn’t happened yet and can’t be expedited due to a perceived lack of cross-party consensus. The secretary also said the [...]
December strikes: Who’s walking out when and how will it affect you? December 6, 2022 December is set to be a month blighted by industrial strife, with everyone from nurses and posties to train drivers and security staff to walk out. With inflation reaching a 41-year high at an eye-watering 11.1 per cent, thousands of workers have voted to down tools and ask for a real-term increase in pay. As [...]
RMT announces three more days of rail strikes over Christmas December 5, 2022 The union RMT has announced three more days of strike over Christmas as it put Network Rail’s offer to its members with the recommendation to reject it. Workers are set to walk out from 6pm on Christmas Eve to 6am on 27 December. This will be in addition to the planned industrial action on 13, [...]
London venues warn they will haemorrhage sales if rail strikes go ahead this Christmas December 5, 2022 London restaurants have warned they will haemorrhage sales should planned railway strikes go ahead this month, as union bosses rejected a new pay offer over the week. Searcys champagne bar and restaurant chain, which has venues at the Gherkin and St Pancras International station, said it was worried it would take a 30 per cent [...]
Keir Starmer urges compromise on rail strikes after latest pay deal rejected December 5, 2022 Both the unions and the train operators need to compromise to bring the ongoing railway strikes to an end, according to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. “Both sides need to compromise, both sides need to finish the negotiations and the government needs to drive them forward,” Starmer told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. “The government’s been [...]
Eurostar security staff to join railway workers in pre-Christmas strike November 30, 2022 Eurostar’s passengers might need to brace for disruption over the Christmas period, as security staff contracted by facility manager Mitie have announced a strike for mid-December. Over 100 members of the union RMT are set to walk out on 16, 18, 22, 23 December as part of an ongoing dispute over salaries. This will severely [...]
Strike chaos: RMT’s Mick Lynch tells hospitality to direct their anger at rail operators November 29, 2022 RMT’s general secretary Mick Lynch has told hospitality businesses to direct their anger at rail operators for the upcoming rail strikes. In a letter to hospitality and retail associations, Lynch said that while “you face disruption to your business at this critical time, the private rail businesses we are in dispute with will not lose [...]
Transport secretary Mark Harper: My role is to facilitate rail talks – not negotiate November 29, 2022 Transport secretary Mark Harper has reaffirmed his role of facilitator in the railway negotiations. Harper wrote to general secretary Mick Lynch saying he saw a way forward “to meet everyone’s needs” and put an end to the rail dispute, especially after last week’s “constructive and positive” meeting. “By modernising working practices, we can deliver the [...]
Mark Harper: Inflation-matching pay rises ‘unaffordable’ November 27, 2022 Increasing workers’ salaries to match inflation rates is simply unaffordable, according to transport secretary Mark Harper. “We want to try and give all the workers in the public sector who work very hard decent pay rises, but they can’t be inflation busting,” he told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday. Salary increases have been the [...]
Nightcap: Cocktail group urges RMT to move rail strikes in exchange for free drinks November 25, 2022 The owners of UK cocktail group Nightcap have called on the union RMT to switch the rail strike dates in exchange for free drinks. Co-founders Sarah Willingham and Michael Toxvaerd – who own the likes of Cocktail Club, Barrio and the Adventure Bar Group – pleaded with the RMT to move their planned walkout from [...]