Railway workers voted overwhelmingly to strike in a fierce dispute over jobs, pay and conditions, threatening massive network disruptions in the coming weeks.
Members of the Railway, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) in Network Rail and 13 train operators supported the launch of an industrial action campaign.
Trade union leaders will now decide when to strike, which will shut down huge sections of the network.
The union said it was the biggest endorsement of industrial action by railway workers since privatization.
A total of 71 per cent of those polled took part in the vote, with 89 per cent voting in favor of the strike and 11 per cent voting against.
The union will now call for urgent talks with Network Rail and the 15 train companies.
RMT Secretary General Mick Lynch said: “Today’s huge approval from the railway workers is a justification for the union’s approach and sends a clear message that members want a decent increase in wages, job security and no mandatory layoffs.
“Our NEC will meet to discuss the strike schedule from mid-June, but we sincerely hope that ministers will encourage employers to return to the negotiating table and find a reasonable agreement with RMT.”
Leaving Network Rail signalers will have a significant impact on services.
It is possible for trains to run only for part of the day, for example from 7 am to 7 pm and only on main lines.
Services can be reduced to about one-fifth of the normal weekday schedule.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Transport (DfT) said: “Strikes should always be the last resort, not the first, so it is extremely disappointing and premature that RMT is calling for industrial action before even entering into discussions.
“Taxpayers across the country have contributed £ 16 billion to keep our railways running during the pandemic, while ensuring that no workers have lost their jobs. The railroad is still life-sustaining, with the number of passengers reduced by 25 percent and anything that drives them even more at risk of killing services and jobs.
“We urge RMT to review and accept the call for negotiations in the industry so that we can find a solution that is suitable for workers, passengers and taxpayers alike.”
Members of the Railway, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) in Network Rail and 15 train operators supported the launch of an industrial action campaign. Union leaders will now decide when to go on strike, shutting down huge sections of the network
HARD-LINERS: RMT leader Mick Lynch addresses the crowd as recently fired P&O workers and their supporters march from the local RMT building to the port entrance this month
This comes after RMT issued a stern warning on Sunday that they would fiercely resist any attempt by the government to reduce their right to strike on the railways.
Transport Minister Grant Shaps said over the weekend that ministers were considering drafting laws that would make industrial action illegal unless a number of employees work.
RMT Secretary General Lynch said: “Any attempt by Grant Shaps to make effective strikes illegal on the railways will be met with the fiercest opposition from the RMT and the wider trade union movement.
“The government must focus all its efforts on finding a just solution to this railway dispute, and not attack the democratic rights of working people.
“Britain already has the worst union rights in Western Europe.
“And we have not fought tooth and nail for the railroaders since our ancestors founded the United Society of Railway Workers in 1872 to accept a meek future in which our members are prevented from legally withdrawing.”
Mr Schaps told the Sunday Telegraph that the government hoped the unions would “wake up and smell the coffee” and suggested that the strikes could turn off more people from rail transport.
He also accused unions of going straight to industrial action instead of using it as a last resort, adding that the railways were already “financially viable” because of the pandemic.
Referring to the Conservatives’ promise of minimum services during strikes, he said: “We had a promise of minimum levels of service.
“If they did get to that point, then minimum service levels would be a way to work to protect these freight routes and things like that.”
More than 40,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) in Network Rail and train operators took part in the vote on whether to launch an industrial action campaign for jobs, pay and conditions.
“Any attempt by Grant Schaps (pictured) to make effective strikes illegal on the railways will be met with the fiercest resistance,” Mr Lynch said.
Universities, airports and hospitals could be hit by accidents so severe that they threaten to stop the country (pictured) People are waiting in Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport
Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the Association of Transport Employees, which also threatens industrial action, said: one day of the pandemic.
“What the government needs to do is put in place measures to tackle the Tories’ cost of living crisis, including ensuring that wages keep pace with inflation.
“It’s funny to see Grant Shaps fight to get poison in the ears of journalists instead of supporting policies to put our railroads at the center of our economic recovery from Covid. He should be ashamed.
“Honestly, the Tories can pass whatever law they want to deny our members their fundamental rights – our union will oppose their unjust and undemocratic laws every step of the way.
“The difference between a slave and a worker is in the ability of the latter to withdraw his labor.”
TUC Secretary General Francis O’Grady said: “Ministers have failed miserably to deal with the cost of living crisis. Now they are trying to divert their attention from their failure by fighting the unions.
“The right to strike is crucial in a free society.
“The threat of the right to strike is pushing the balance of the workplace too far towards employers. And that means workers can’t stand up for decent services and safety in the workplace – either defend their jobs or get paid.
“We will fight these unjust and unworkable proposals to undermine the unions and undermine the right to strike, and we will win.”
Unite Secretary General Sharon Graham said: “Unite will come face to face with all necessary means against any further attacks on the right to strike.
“In the UK, we are already working under the most restrictive labor laws in Western Europe. The right of workers to withdraw their labor is inalienable in any democracy that deserves its name.
“This is a cynical, authoritarian move designed to protect corporate profits and has been shifted to meet the needs of short-term factional politics.
“While corporations are making billions and ordinary working people suffer, this government is choosing to attack the rights of British workers.
“When P&O, a billion-dollar company owned by a foreign dictatorship, brutally fired 800 British workers, they broke the law. The government’s response was fine.
“When British workers threaten to defend their standard of living in the face of a crisis in the cost of living that they have not created, this government is threatening to take away their democratic rights.
“We are now forced to inform the government. Unite will not sacrifice the protection of jobs, pay and conditions of our members at the altar of the “partygate”. If you impose our legal activities outside the law, then do not expect us to play by the rules.
Unite Secretary General Sharon Graham said: “Unite will come face to face with all necessary means against any further attacks on the right to strike (Unite members pictured on the picket line on May 20).
Protesters, including unionists, strikers and former P&O workers, gather in Clerkenwell in front of the Marx Memorial Library to march to Trafalgar Square and celebrate International Workers’ Day on May 1, 2022 in London, UK.
The picket line at the Barking depot on May 20, 2022 in London, England. UNITE members hired by Alstom go on strike over dispute over terms and pay
This comes when ministers called on union leaders to be “reasonable” and spare the nation from the chaos of rail strikes.
They insisted that if the unions move forward, the government will introduce legislation to prevent a recurrence of the national railway shutdown.
This would mean banning any strikes that do not provide a guaranteed “minimum service” in order to limit passenger disruption. It can also make union leaders liable for damages if they fail to do so.
Last night, a government source acknowledged that the law could not be passed in time for strikes this summer, but would apply to any future industrial action. The source also said the government had invested £ 16 billion in taxpayers’ cash in the railway industry during the pandemic as the number of passengers fell.
The insider added: “We prefer to have reasonable discussions and we want the unions to be reasonable.
“But unjustified large-scale rail strikes would make legislation inevitable to protect the public and supply chains.”
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With the country already in the grip of rampant inflation, crippling energy spending and global instability, the last thing Britain needs is a strike.
But unfortunately, this is what we are focusing on in the coming weeks.
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