One-day railway strike called over job cuts
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A NATIONAL day of disruption is likely on 2 April after leaders of 68,000 railway workers called a 24- hour strike yesterday to coincide with a stoppage by miners and a demonstration by public sector workers, writes Barrie Clement.
Unless talks today between British Rail and the RMT union avert the action, it is highly unlikely that any trains will run that Friday - BR's busiest day of the week. The train drivers' union Aslef and white collar union TSSA have not held ballots, but RMT members, who voted by a decisive margin for action, control the signalling network.
Plans will be finalised today for a march in London on 2 April which will be led by uniformed public sector workers, including firefighters who are to hold a strike ballot over the Government's refusal to honour their automatic pay mechanism.
BR said that less than 40 per cent of RMT members had voted for action, over threatened compulsory redundancies. Referring to a series of successful 24-hour strikes four years ago, Jimmy Knapp, GMT general secretary, said: 'The British Railways Board are in danger of making the same mistake they made in 1989 of underestimating the mood of the workforce.'
Ballot details, page 3
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments