Rail Strike Dates June 2022: When Is The Rail Strike Due To Start, What We Know
Rail Strike Dates June 2022: Railway workers have voted to go on strike over pay and jobs.
If the strike goes ahead, it would cause widespread disruption to passenger and freight services in England, Scotland and Wales.
When is the strike happening?
No date has been set. The union involved, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), said its leaders would meet on 7 June to discuss a timetable for strike action.
RMT members include everyone from drivers, guards and catering staff to signallers and track maintenance workers.
By law, unions have to give 14 days’ notice of any strike action.
Which lines are affected?
People working for 13 train operating companies, which run services in different parts of the country, have voted to strike. These are:
- Chiltern Railways
- Cross Country Trains
- Greater Anglia
- LNER
- East Midlands Railway
- c2c
- Great Western Railway
- Northern Trains
- South Eastern Railway
- South Western Railway
- TransPennine Express
- Avanti West Coast
- West Midlands Trains.
In addition, workers at Network Rail, which maintains the railways throughout Britain, have voted to strike.
So, the impact of the action would be felt across England, Scotland and Wales.
What about other rail operators?
Workers at two companies who were part of the RMT ballot did not vote to go on strike.
GTR, which operates the Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express, voted for action short of a strike – for instance refusing to work overtime. And Island Line on the Isle of Wight voted against any action.
But even operators whose workers are not in favour of a strike expect services to be affected.
For example, Transport for Wales – which is not in dispute with unions – has warned of disruption because its trains use railways run by Network Rail.
In Scotland, the RMT has announced a strike ballot over ScotRail’s pay offer, although it’s not yet known when any action would take place.
What could the impact be?
The planned strike covers both the management of track, signals and tunnels (Network Rail) and the running of the trains (the train operators).
It will affect both passenger services and the movement of goods by train, including fuel and some food.
The government said it would prioritise the supply of food, goods and energy in the event of widespread strikes.
Trains might only run for part of the day, such as from 07:00 to 19:00 and only on main lines. Services could also be reduced to around a fifth of the normal weekday timetable.
Contingency plans are being worked on to keep some services running, but timetables would have to be scaled back.
Why is the strike happening?
The dispute is about pay, conditions and planned job cuts.
The RMT says members working for train companies have been subject to “pay freezes, threats to jobs and attacks on their terms and conditions”.
Network Rail plans to cut 2,500 maintenance jobs as it tries to make £2bn of savings over the next two years.
The RMT’s general secretary Mick Lynch says the jobs are safety critical, and cutting them will make accidents more likely.
Network Rail says it would not consider any changes that would make the railways less safe and that modernisation is needed.
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train companies, says the railway system needs reform and has called the strike ballot “premature”.
The government says the rail network is still on “life support”, with passenger numbers down on pre-pandemic levels, and that strike action risks driving more people away from using trains.
Can a strike be avoided?
The strike would be called off if all parties can reach an agreement – and they all say they want to continue negotiations.
Network Rail says it will do everything it can to avoid industrial action.
RMT leader Mick Lynch told the BBC he hoped there would not be a strike, but added “we have to have that in our top pocket”.
Will I have to go to work?
The pandemic has made working from home more common. The Chartered Management Institute said it expected bosses to give staff flexibility to avoid the disruption where possible.
It said: “In terms of the direct impact on commuters, there’s no doubt it will be less than train strikes of two or three years ago.”
But not everyone will get that option. A “great divide” has emerged between people who can be flexible in such situations and those who have to come to work, it said.
