The rail strike in Great Britain has begun, shutting down 80% of rail service. In addition, the London Underground also began a one-day strike on Tuesday. While the rail strike will last for three days, it is only the opening phase of the union’s job action. If their demands are not met, strikes could go on for months. This is just the beginning of what is being called a “summer of discontent,” and it has already split the Labour Party, with Labour parliamentarians defying the party leader to join the picket lines.
Rail Maritime and Transport Union General Secretary Mick Lynch has made clear that it is the government which is blocking any deal, by telling the Network Rail—a public sector company— and the train operating companies which it manages, to find savings, as fare revenue has fallen since Covid. Lynch told BBC’s Newsnight on Monday that Network Rail had offered a 2% pay-raise with the possibility of a further 1% later, dependent on efficiency savings. Not only is the government not offering a reasonable wage increase, but the government has “issued me a letter saying that there are going to be redundancies [firings—ed.] starting from July 1. So, rather than trying to come to an agreement in this dispute, they’ve escalated it by giving us formal notice of redundancy amongst our Network Rail members.”
“It is clear that the Tory government, after slashing £4bn of funding from National Rail and Transport for London, has now actively prevented a settlement to this dispute. The rail companies have now proposed pay rates that are massively under the relevant rates of inflation, coming on top of the pay freezes of the past few years….”
The strike promises to be a major trade union and wider political action that has not been witnessed in the UK for decades. Even the 84-year-old Arthur Scargill, who led the famous mine workers strike in the 1980’s, was seen on the picket line. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, a sort of Tony Blair-light, ordered Labour MPs not to go on the picket line, fearing they will alienate moderate voters in the next election, but that order was quickly defied, as 16 MPs joined the strikers. Former party leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted his full support and no doubt will eventually join the picket lines, where members of his own faction can already be found.
The strike could spread to other unions, since the teachers and hospital workers unions have given the government a deadline of June 22 to respond to their demands, if not, they will call for a strike vote of union members.
