Fresh travel misery for Brits after rail union announces three MORE days of strikes | The Sun
BRITS face fresh travel misery after a rail union announced three more days of strikes.
Rail workers' union RMT said it was in response to National Rail's "U-turn" on pay conditions.
Train staff are expected to return to the picket lines on November 3, 5, and 7.
The RMT and National Rail had reached agreement on a new pay offer for staff but the national train operator is said to have "reneged on their promises of an improved pay offer and sought to impose job cuts, more unsocial hours and detrimental changes to rosters," according to the union.
They said the new round of strikes were taking place because National Rail "attempted to impose drastic changes in working practices".
The union said National Rail wrote directly to staff, urging them to accept a previously rejected deal.
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RMT staff will walk away from their jobs on November 3 in a separate dispute with London Underground and Overground networks.
RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said: "On the one hand they (Network Rail) were telling our negotiators that they were prepared to do a deal, while planning to torpedo negotiations by imposing unacceptable changes to our members' terms and conditions.
"Our members are livid with these duplicitous tactics, and they will now respond in kind with sustained strike action."
Tim Shoveller, Network Rail’s chief negotiator, said: "A two-year 8p per cent deal, with discounted travel and a new extended job guarantee to January 2025, is on the table ready to be put to our staff.
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"Unfortunately, the leadership of the RMT seem intent on more damaging strikes rather than giving their members a vote on our offer.
"Me and my team remain available for serious talks and continue to negotiate in good faith. Our sector has a £2bn hole in its budget with many fewer passengers using our services.
"That reality is not going to change anytime soon and a fair and affordable and improved deal is on the table, ready to be implemented if our people were only offered the opportunity.”
The move comes after months of crippling strike actions from the union as it tries to stop redundancies and improver worker pay and conditions.
The Sun Online has contacted National Rail for comment.
It comes as two millions striking workers could bring the country to a standstill in a new Winter of Discontent, it is feared.
Teachers and nurses are threatening walk-outs over pay and conditions.
A call for coordinated industrial action — stopping short of a general strike — is also set to be passed on Wednesday when militant trade unions hold their annual rally in Brighton.
But Tory MP Greg Smith last night warned: “Unions need to understand that by contributing to economic decline they are doing their members’ job security no favours at all.”
Up to 1.9million public sector workers are set to strike or be balloted in the coming months, including Unite, Unison and GMB union members.
Unite boss Sharon Graham yesterday said: “I think there could be up to a million people on strike very, very soon.”
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Unison has announced its members, including nursing staff and ambulance crews, will vote in the coming weeks.
And 155,000 postal workers, represented by the CWU, are already in the midst of industrial action, holding a total of 19 days of strikes up until Christmas.
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