Biggest rail strike in three decades kicks off in UK

The strike, which was carried out by about 40,000 workers to demand a salary increase equivalent to an inflation rate of about seven percent, better working conditions and against forced dismissals, affects 13 national train companies and rail network, which are responsible for the entire infrastructure of the sector.

In London, the situation has become even more chaotic because underground staff decided to support their colleagues on the first day of the protest, also scheduled for 23 and 25 June.

Prensa Latina reported that Waterloo station, located on the south bank of the Thames and one of the nerve centers of the National Train Service, was nearly empty on Tuesday morning.

Service is very poor, only some commuter trains are running, and Jubilee (one of the London Underground lines) is closed, a staff member who was dedicated to directing some confused commuters to bus stops explained to this reporter. .

The Rail, Marine and Transport Workers’ Union (RMT) decided to start a strike on Tuesday, after negotiations with employers failed the day before.

Union leader Mick Lynch said rail companies had proposed wage increases of 3 percent, well below the current rate of inflation, to which he must add wages have been frozen for several years, and he did not rule out other unions as education and health staff would also be regulated. Postal services protests in the coming months.

Britain’s Conservative government refuses to interfere in the negotiations seeing it as a dispute between private employers and their employees, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday criticized the RMT and its leaders, calling the rail strike unnecessary.

The Labor Party, which some of its deputies showed solidarity with the strikers despite the fact that the party leadership asked members of the assembly to refrain from participating in the protests, in turn called for a solution to the labor dispute to avoid further disruption of citizenship. .

m/nm