LONDON (Reuters) – British railway workers launched a new week-long strike on Tuesday, Network Rail said, as many commuters returned to work after the holiday season.
“Due to industrial action, rail services will be significantly reduced until Sunday January 8,” Network Rail, the manager of Britain’s rail network, announced.
“Trains will be busier, start running later and finish earlier, and there will be no services at all in some places,” Network Rail added.
“All parties involved know what needs to be done to reach an agreement, but the government is standing in the way of it,” RMT rail union general secretary Mick Lynch told the BBC.
The government, meanwhile, said it was unable to give public sector workers a pay rise, but called on union officials to return to the negotiating table.
“The only way to get a deal is to get unions and employers around the bargaining table and not on the picket line, that’s what I want to see happen,” said Britain’s transport minister , Mark Harper, to Times Radio.
Strikes to demand wage increases and keep pace with inflation have multiplied in recent months in many sectors, affecting in particular health with a strike by nurses in December, but also postal workers or airport staff.
Teachers are also planning to go on strike in Scotland next week.
(Written by Kate Holton; French version Lina Golovnya, editing by Kate Entringer)
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