From Tuesday to Saturday this week, traveling on public transport in Great Britain will be difficult: railway workers have announced the biggest strike in decades. The London Underground is also affected.
At the beginning of June, the employees of the British RMT went on strike for 24 hours. Outages are now expected throughout the week.
(dpa) Train commuters and other rail travelers in Great Britain will have to switch to other means of transport in the coming days. The railway workers’ union RMT has announced widespread railway strikes for several days, which are due to start on Tuesday. Around 40,000 members of the union want to stop working on Thursday and Saturday to fight for better wages and working conditions.
Delays or cancellations are expected on the days in between. The strike is considered the largest in decades, only around a fifth of the connections should run as usual. London Underground workers are also on strike on Tuesday.
They are absolutely keen to find a solution to the conflict, said Tim Shoveller from train operator Network Rail in an interview with the BBC. John Leach of the RMT union announced on the BBC that he would continue to strike as long as necessary. Observers fear that this could take months.
Leach has criticized the UK Conservative Government for spending cuts in transport and called for more support from the opposition Labor Party. The upcoming strikes have become a political issue between the parties in recent weeks, with both sides blaming each other.