The movement is supposed to last until Sunday, but the biggest mobilization should take place today. For the British, this will be added to chaos in airports in recent weeks, marked by endless queues and hundreds of flight cancellations.
Le Monde With AFP
One line in two closed and four out of five trains deleted: British railway workers begin, Tuesday, June 21, a three -day strike for jobs and wages, announced as the biggest skipping in thirty years.
The RMT union had indicated, at the beginning of June, that more than 50,000 railway employees were going to stop work “during the largest sectoral conflict since 1989” and major privatizations in the sector, claiming in particular increases Employees in phase with rampant inflation.
In addition to wages, RMT denounces the degradation of working conditions and “thousands of layoffs” provided, according to him, by the myriad of private rail companies that make up the sector in the United Kingdom.
Tuesday will be the biggest day of mobilization, while the employees of the London metro are also called upon to disengage, and TFL, the operator of transport of the capital, calls to avoid traveling that day . The strike will continue on Thursday and Saturday, but the disturbances will be felt every day until Sunday, warns TFL.
For the British, this will be added to chaos in airports, in recent weeks, marked by extended queues and hundreds of flight cancellations, while the sector is struggling to recruit in the face of the Resumption of request after the lifting of health restrictions.
failure of negotiations
The government is due to meet on Tuesday. “Unions harm those they claim to help,” said Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in a statement, calling for “a reasonable compromise for the good of the British people and rail workers”.
Approaching the strike, the executive had continued to call unions and companies to continue the negotiations, but these failed on Monday, at the end of the day, RMT deeming “unacceptable” the proposals made by the employers.
The strike movement “will bring suffering and chaos to millions of users”, reacted, before the Parliament, the Minister of Transport, Grant Shapps, criticized both by the unions and by the Labor Opposition for not ‘To be seated himself at the negotiation table.
But, “During such discussions, the employer and unions are still meeting and negotiating”, and the government “is not the employer,” said Shapps, who said it also wanted to introduce a minimal service into British legislation in the event of a social movement.
to an extended strike?
Since last week, the executive repeats that this strike will harm the countless British prevented from going to their work or medical appointments. This disengagement also threatens to disrupt major sporting and cultural events, such as the Glastonbury Glastonbury Festival, a concert by Rolling Stones in London on Saturday and the end-of-school exams of certain high school students.
The government believes that the unions are shooting themselves in the foot while the rail sector, which benefited from 16 billion pounds of grants to help it in the face of the fall in revenue during the pandemic, risks seeing the Number of passengers back up sustainably in the face of the development of telework.
The Federation of TUC unions accused the government on Monday of “stirring tensions”, citing in particular the advanced idea last week by Grant Shapps to authorize the use of temporary workers to replace the striking employees if the movement should Exterminate.
The strike could, in fact, extend to other modes of transport, including buses, and last beyond this first week of strike, while other transport unions have called their members to Pronounce on a ranging.
The movement could even spread to other sectors such as teaching, health, post office, or even lawyers: the association of the criminal bar announced, on Monday, that its members had mostly pronounced themselves in favor of a strike next week.