BRITAIN: Thousands of rail travellers on commuter routes in southern England experienced long delays yesterday as the start of a 48-hour rail strike forced the cancellation of hundreds of trains. Rachel Donnelly, in London, reports.
Only one in ten services were running on routes served by South West Trains (SWT) and more travel chaos for 350,000 daily rail users is expected on Monday and Tuesday when members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) plan to hold another 48-hour strike.
Freezing temperatures added to the misery for commuters but the Automobile Association reported no significant increase in traffic, suggesting many workers had decided to extend their Christmas and New Year holiday.
As the industrial action disrupted journeys into London's Waterloo station and across the south-east, the two sides disagreed about the nature of the strike.
RMT members rejected a 7.6 per cent pay increase over two years for crew members this week because they wanted the deal implemented over 18 months. SWT, which awarded its drivers 7.6 per cent over 18 months, stressed the deal was linked to productivity while the RMT plan was not linked to productivity. It also said the RMT deal was worth about 15 per cent over three years because it included a possible cut in hours and a pay increase in line with inflation in year three.
Denying SWT's claim that it had met the unions' pay demand and that the strike was caused over a row about disciplining two union staff, RMT's Waterloo branch secretary, Mr Greg Tucker, who was one of the workers disciplined, insisted the strike was about pay only. The proposed strike on Tuesday, however, will be based on RMT allegations that SWT victimised union activists.
"This has been SWT's line all along, they have tried to fudge the question of pay and turn it into a question of discipline," Mr Tucker said. Mr Tucker was downgraded from his job as a train driver to a ticket assistant following what SMT claimed was a safety-related incident. But Mr Tucker insisted he had not forced any members to go on strike.