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Week of rail strikes set to cripple Liverpool St
Dick Murray08.09.09
National Express East Anglia services in and out of Liverpool Street station face virtual shutdown with a six-day strike.
It starts when the trains are due to begin running on Monday 21 September and will last until the end of Saturday, the 26th. More than 150,000 passengers a day will be affected.
Members of Aslef, the train drivers' union, this afternoon threw out a new pay and conditions deal and declared a resumption of the strikes which crippled NXEA services on six days last month.
NXEA increased a pay and conditions deal in an effort to halt the strikes.
The three unions involved, Aslef, the RMT and TSSA, ordered new ballots recommending acceptance.
But Aslef members, controlling 800 NXEA drivers, have rejected the deal and reinstated the strike which had only been “suspended” while the new ballot took place.
Aslef general secretary Keith Norman said: “Our members have decided the offer is not good enough. We expect rock-solid support for the action.”
Reader views (5)
My heart bleeds for you, Class 90 from Norwich. I can't remember the last time I had a pay rise that was not in fact replacing a pay cut. There's a recession going on in the real world, come and join it!
- Paul, London
Let 'em strike. In fact sack the lot of them. We will manage to get to work, or work from home.
- Paul, London
In better countries, in the event of rail strikes, there are a number of train guaranteed to operate.
- Roberto, London,uk
In an economic climate like the current one when most workers are being forced to take no pay rises (I have had below inflation raises for the last five years and no raise this year), it is criminal for railway workers to expect a high pay rise. Next year the rail operators are going to be forced to increase fares to compensate for the cuts in regulated fares, and in order to meet these union demands will have to increase them further. This only affects the rest of the populace who will have to pay even more to stand on overcrowded trains and to endure the appalling service we get from our railways.
- Andrew, Forest Gate, London, UK
Let me be the first to comment on this story before all the "you should be lucky to have a job" "sack the lot of them" " I have't had a pay rise in a million years" comments start. I work for NXEA as a driver and voted againest the the pay offer. The money side of the deal was OK the problem was with a half percent increase tied to productivity and it was a two year deal. If this offer was remade as a one year deal without the productivity and half percent clause and second year it would be better.
NX would be happy to let this strike go ahead because they are having trouble with money at the moment, if they can hold on their money a bit longer all the better. Then the can sell the business to cossman & cvc or stagecoach.
as we all know, SAME STUFF DIFERENT TIE.
- Class 90, norwich uk
