Britain’s rail network will face severe disruptions on Saturday amid the biggest strike so far this year.
Only 11 percent of normal services will run and there will be no trains in many areas, Network Rail said.
People attending the London Marathon and delegates travelling to Birmingham for the Conservative Party conference this weekend will be among those affected by the disruption.
The disruption will be worse than this year’s previous rail strikes as it is the first time members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), Aslef train drivers’ union, Unite, and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association have walked out in coordinated action.
Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, said his members are increasingly angry at the lack of progress in the dispute.
“The message I am receiving from my members is that they want more industrial action, so I think more strikes are inevitable,” he said.
Damaging Recovery
Network Rail Chief Executive Andrew Haines said: “Despite our best efforts to compromise and find a breakthrough in talks, rail unions remain intent on continuing and coordinating their strike action.“This serves only to ensure our staff forgo even more of their pay unnecessarily, as well as causing even more disruption for our passengers and further damaging the railway’s recovery from the pandemic.”
Restrictions on Strikes
The UK has been hit by a series of strike actions in recent months, causing serious disruptions to multiple sectors including railways, ports, and local governments.Announcing his mini-budget on Sept. 23, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng told the House of Commons, “At such a critical time for our economy, it is simply unacceptable that strike action is disrupting so many lives.”
He said the UK will adopt “minimum service levels” to stop trade unions closing down transport networks during strikes.
The planned clampdown on industrial action was part of the policy blueprint unveiled by Prime Minister Liz Truss during her campaign to become Conservative Party leader.
She made clear that she would not allow unions to disrupt vital public services and would not let the country be “held to ransom by militant trade unionists.”
Her planned measures included introducing minimum service levels on critical national infrastructure to keep trains, buses, and other services running. She also planned to raise ballot thresholds to make it harder for strike action to take place across all sectors.
