The Eurostar strikes have been partially called off, a rare sign of respite for travelers trying to cope with weeks of UK rail disruptions.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers said on December 14 that on-duty strikes planned for December 15 and 17 had been suspended to allow security staff to learn about the latest offer from their employer, Mitie Group vote Plc.
The December 22-23 strikes “are currently ongoing,” the RMT added. The Eurostar train line connects London to mainland Europe.
The RMT and another union, the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association, have launched a series of strikes across Britain’s rail network after a protracted dispute over pay and proposed reforms to the system.
Strikes are officially suspended on December 15, but workers traveling to the office still face disruption – and on some journeys the mornings after a strike can be more disruptive than the strike days themselves. Commuters from Brighton on England’s south coast are due to follow current timetable, despite strikes on 16 December until 8.13 a.m. in London Victoria. The earliest they can make it on December 15 is 8:41 am
Travelers from Feltham, on the outskirts of south-west London, will find an even greater discrepancy, with a train arriving in Waterloo at 8:11am on 16 December, but no train into the city before 15 December at 9:00am comes.
Unions have accused the UK government of thwarting higher pay offers from rail companies, while ministers argue sharp pay rises could trigger second-round effects on price increases and ultimately worsen the cost of living crisis. Inflation fell to 10.7% in November, according to data released on December 14th. The strikes have spread to a range of sectors including nurses, ambulance drivers, postal workers and civil servants.
“Badge of Shame”
At Rishi Sunak’s weekly session on Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons on December 14, opposition Labor Party leader Keir Starmer told the Prime Minister that the nurses’ strike, which begins on December 15, is a “badge of shame”. be for the government.
“Rather than show leadership, the prime minister is playing with people’s health,” Starmer said. “All he has to do is just meet the nurses.”
Sunak said the government had “consistently spoken to all unions involved in pay disputes,” adding that the government responded to nurses’ demands for more training and money for nursing students, giving them a pay rise last year than the pay of other public sector workers was frozen.
Health chiefs have criticized the nurses’ union for exposing some patients to industrial action. Ruth May, chief nursing officer for England, said senior nurses had been “abandoned” by the Royal College of Nursing and urged it to grant exceptions to the strike.
