Railway workers take to picket lines as industrial action disrupts West Midlands services
Railway workers have taken to picket lines across the West Midlands as the latest strike action started – bringing the network to almost a standstill.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) staged another national walkout on Tuesday at Network Rail and 14 other train operators.
It led to West Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway, Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry and Chiltern Railway services majorly scaled back.
And the disruption will continue on Wednesday, with train drivers from Aslef striking on Thursday and a 48-hour strike by RMT once again on Friday.
John Watson, West Midlands regional organiser for the union, said staff wanted to reach an agreement over the dispute.
He accused the government of blocking a deal by placing conditions on discussions. But Transport Secretary Mark Harper called on the union to "get off the picket line and round the negotiating table".
Mr Watson said: "At the moment the DfT and the Transport Secretary are putting a block on any potential deal and allowing the Rail Delivery Group to negotiate openly and freely with us to reach a settlement because they have included 13 conditions for there to be a settlement."
Mr Watson said the conditions included the closure of more than 1,100 ticket offices across the country, as well as the introduction of driver-only trains.
He said that despite the ongoing disruption he believed the public were still in support of the action.
He said: "We have had car horns beeping this morning, people that are homeless saying they support us, the general public walking past and even the travelling public, saying that they understand why we are taking action."
Mr Watson said he believed the action would continue until May – the date on the union's mandate for strike action – and beyond if an agreement could not be found.
He said: "If the government carry on the way they are then I would say yes, I can see this carrying on to May and even further in the future."
He added that staff did not want to be on the pickets.
He said: "It is not a position our members want to be in, because they are losing money as well in the middle of a cost of living crisis. They are giving up money they need to pay their own bills for the long-term goal of trying to protect the rail service for passengers, but also to maintain their own standards of living."
He added: "We want to be round the table and reach a settlement. Our members want to reach a settlement, they don't want to be sat out in the cold and rain inconveniencing passengers, they want to reach an agreed settlement."
Mr Harper said more meetings would take place with the unions next week.
He added: "There is a very fair pay offer on the table which has been accepted by two of the trade unions on Network Rail.
"The RMT recommended that their members didn't accept it, but actually a third of their members still voted in favour of it.
"I think it is time that the RMT got off the picket line and round the negotiating table to try and hammer out a deal with the train operating companies and Network Rail."
The advice for people is only to travel if absolutely necessary, allow extra time and check when first and last trains will depart. There may also be disruption to services on Sunday as workers return to their duties.
On RMT strike days, around half of the network will shut down, with only about 20 per cent of normal services running. Trains that do run will start later and finish much earlier than usual – with services typically running between 7.30am and 6.30pm on the day of the strike.
The train drivers’ strike on Thursday will affect 15 operators and will result in even fewer services running, with some companies running “very significantly reduced” timetables.
