LONDON (Reuters) – Around 5,000 train drivers across nearly a quarter of Britain’s rail network went on strike on Saturday in a move to secure pay rises as the country’s inflation rate soared. reached its highest level in 40 years.
The 24-hour strike organized by the train drivers’ union ASLEF is the second major action on the network in a week, after that which 40,000 members of the RMT and TSSA unions – which represent the rest of the railway staff – organized on Wednesday .
Soaring inflation – consumer price inflation is currently 9.4% – and uneven pay rises have heightened union tensions in Britain in sectors such as postal services, health, schools , airports and the judicial system.
According to Network Rail, which manages British rail infrastructure, the strike should cause “significant disruption” all day Saturday and Sunday morning.
Almost all services from seven of the country’s 34 rail operators have been cancelled, including regional networks in the south east and east of England as well as long distance lines from London to the south west, north -east and Edinburgh.
UK rail services are mostly run for profit by foreign state-owned rail companies under short-term contracts and government operating subsidies, which have exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
ASLEF general secretary Mick Whelan said existing agreements usually only provide 2% wage increases for drivers.
“At this time of crisis in the cost of living, we believe this hopeless situation cannot continue,” he told the BBC.
Steve Montgomery, chief executive of rail operator First Rail and chairman of the Rail Delivery Group, said operators would only grant bigger pay rises if train drivers agreed to change their working practices to achieve savings.
“We’re not telling people to work longer, but to be more productive with the hours they currently have,” he said.
ASLEF plans to organize another day of strike on August 13th.
(French version Benjamin Mallet)
by David Milliken