Rail passengers face disruption TODAY as unions strike and walk out in overtime snub July 22, 2023 Rail passengers face fresh travel misery on Saturday because of a strike by thousands of workers in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. The walkout by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union will badly disrupt services, with some parts of the country having no trains all day. Services are also being [...]
London tube strikes CALLED OFF as unions reach last ditch deal to evade chaos July 21, 2023 London tube strikes next week have been cancelled, after unions struck a last minute deal with Transport for London (TfL) this morning. Aslef, who represent train drivers, confirmed ahead of an official announcement that strikes from all unions would be called off. The RMT, ASLEF and Unite Unions had planned coinciding walk-outs – scheduled between 23 [...]
London workers brave rail strikes and head back to office – but are ‘exception to the rule’ of WFH trend July 21, 2023 Strikes are failing to deter London workers from heading back into the office, with the capital one of only three UK cities to see growth in commuter numbers over the last quarter. As the summer months kicked in, the number of Londoners heading into the office fell significantly across the board, data from Virgin Media’s [...]
Anti-strikes bill becomes law as unions vow to fight it ‘tooth and nail’ July 20, 2023 A law has been passed to curb the effect strikes can have on some key services. The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act has been granted Royal Assent, having cleared both Houses of Parliament after a protracted battle over its impact. The law will allow ministers to impose minimum levels of service during industrial action by [...]
Andy Silvester on market optimism, US wages and a real-life summer thriller July 20, 2023 Bulls are not regularly seen on the streets of the Square Mile, especially recently. It has been all too easy on my recent travels to find people casting their eyes downward when asked about the City’s prospects, as if the irritatingly grey July skies are dimming optimism before the summer holidays. What’s interesting is that [...]
Network Rail tumbled to £1.1bn loss after ‘deeply bruising’ year of strikes July 18, 2023 Network Rail tumbled to a £1.1 billion loss for the past year as it was impacted by strike action and higher interest payments on its debts. The body, which owns and manages the infrastructure of most of the UK’s railway network, saw losses grow for the year to March 31 from a £324 million profit [...]
Ministers are obliged to find a fudge to end rail strike misery July 17, 2023 One of the skills of the modern politician is to be close to success and far from failure. For reasons best known to them, a host of greasy pole-climbers felt obliged to tweet out appropriately statesmanlike congratulations to Carlos Alvarez yesterday after his victory at Wimbledon, basking in some kind of reflected glory. Yet many [...]
Rail strikes: Lynch says government hasn’t spoken to RMT since January July 16, 2023 Rail strike misery looks set to continue for commuters after Mick Lynch, the RMT’s general secretary, said the government had not spoken to him about finding a resolution since the start of the year. Speaking on Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday Programme, Lynch said that there has been “no contact. They seem to pick [...]
Gatwick Airport: Almost 1,000 staff to strike for eight days bringing summer travel chaos July 14, 2023 Gatwick Airport baggage handlers and check-in staff will stage eight days of strikes from later this month in a dispute over pay. The announcement comes after the Unite members had backed walking out in a ballot. Unite said workers will strike for four days beginning on Friday 28 July ending on Tuesday 1 August, then a further [...]
Explainer: High Court rules agency workers regulations during strikes unlawful July 13, 2023 Companies will be prevented from hiring agency staff to fill in for striking workers, the High Court ruled today in a further blow to Rishi Sunak’s government. From August 10, employers won’t be able to recruit agency workers to fill in for striking employees. The regulations were first introduced last summer, amid a wave of [...]