RMT chief says pay ‘no longer primary issue’ as new wave of action sparks chaos - when will train strikes end?

RMT general-secretary Mick Lynch says “pay is no longer the primary issue” and accused industry chiefs of “attacking” workers as a new wave of strike action begins. Thousands of rail workers staged a mass walk out today (Saturday, August 26), sparking bank holiday travel chaos amid huge events such as Leeds and Reading festivals.

Drivers represented by ASLEF are holding a separate strike next week on Friday (September 1) while the union will also ban overtime on the same day as the second RMT strike on Saturday, September 2. Disputes between unions and train companies have been dragging on for well over a year, but Mr Lynch said that pay is no longer in the spotlight after the recent closure of hundreds of ticket offices.

He told Sky News: “Pay is not the primary issue because they are attacking our people and telling them they’re going to be made redundant. My members won’t get a pay deal if they’re made unemployed.

“So, just on the stations they want to get rid of a quarter of staff. You don’t get any pay if you’re not employed by the company. The Government is saying they’re going to take people out of the ticket offices and employ them in the stations, but what they’re actually going to do is give them P45s and say you’re out of the industry.”

Mr Lynch said in order for the strikes to be resolved the very structure of the rail industry would need to change. He added: “They’ve got some demands that they’re making on our members about how they want them to work - they want them to have new contracts, they want to introduce lower pay rates [even lower] than the ones we’ve got now. So if we can sort that stuff out, we can move on then to dealing with pay.

“And if they want to make us a pay proposal without the condition that we have to accept massive job cuts then we will consider that proposal. But we’ve never had a suggestion that we can have a pay rise independent of these changes they want to make at any stage in the last two or three years.”

What dates are the train strikes in August and September?

RMT are set to strike on the following dates in August and September 2023:

• Saturday, August 26
• Saturday, September 2

Drivers represented by ASLEF are holding a separate strike on Friday, September 1, while the union will also ban overtime on the same day as the second RMT strike on Saturday, September 2. The last strikes took place over three days on Thursday, July 20,Saturday, July 22 and Saturday, July 29.

Which train operating companies are affected by the strikes?

The 14 train operating companies affected by the most recent RMT train strikes are:

• Avanti West Coast
• c2c
• Chiltern Railways
• CrossCountry (also affected by industrial action on Saturday 9 September)
• East Midlands Railway
• Gatwick Express
• Great Northern
• Great Western Railway
• Greater Anglia
• Heathrow Express
• Island Line - ASLEF strike only
• London Northwestern Railway
• LNER
• Northern
• South Western Railway
• Southeastern
• Southern
• Stansted Express
• Thameslink
• TransPennine Express
• Transport for Wales (not on strike, but service changes on some routes)
• West Midlands Railway

The companies affected by the driver union’s action (ASLEF) are:

• Avanti West Coast
• Chiltern Railways
• c2c
• CrossCountry
• East Midlands Railway
• Greater Anglia
• GTR Great Northern Thameslink
• Great Western Railway
• Island Line
• LNER
• Northern Trains
• Southeastern
• Southern/Gatwick Express
• South Western Railway
• TransPennine Express
• West Midlands Trains