Train strikes: New RMT walkout means three strikes in four dayson May 18, 2023 at 5:08 pm

RMT members have said they will stage a fresh strike on 2 June in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs and working conditions.

The strike will see 20,000 train managers, caterers and station staff all walk off the job.

It means there will be three rail strikes within four days with Aslef train drivers walking out on 31 May and 3 June, the day of the FA Cup final.

It is likely to cause disruption for many during the half term school break.

The RMT said no new proposals had been put forward by the train companies’ representatives since the union’s last strike action on 13 May, in the long running dispute over pay, jobs and working conditions.

Its General Secretary Mick Lynch said the government was not allowing the Rail Delivery Group to make an improved offer.

Industry negotiators were “blindsided” when the RMT turned down their latest offer in April. There was a war of words over whether the RDG had gone back on its proposals – something it strongly denied.

On Thursday, the train companies’ group said it had continued to stand by its “fair” proposal, and said the RMT leadership had chosen to “to prolong this dispute without ever giving their members a chance to have a say on their own offer”.

ASLEF’s walkouts are now more disruptive than the RMT’s, because settling the Network Rail dispute means signalling staff are no longer involved.

However RMT members have backed strike action potentially into the Autumn.

The government and industry argue the railway is financially unsustainable, and working practices need to change to enable a pay rise. Unions argue jobs and conditions are being attacked and the wage increases on the table are far below inflation.

“Ministers cannot just wish this dispute away,” the RMT’s Mick Lynch said.