Passengers faced a second day of disruption on Britain’s railways on Saturday as the union leader Mick Lynch insisted the 24-hour strike had not targeted the Eurovision song contest.
Train crews are staging another 24-hour strike, immediately after Friday’s action by drivers, disrupting people travelling to Liverpool for the Eurovision final, as well as National League football fans heading to Wembley in London.
The RMT general secretary, Mick Lynch, said the timing of the latest action was because of “anti-trade union laws” rather than targeting specific dates.
“We’ve not targeted Wembley or Liverpool or any of the activities that people get up to,” he told the BBC’s Today programme. “There isn’t a day where people aren’t undertaking important activities, in business life or personal life.
“We don’t set the date of Eurovision. We don’t set the anti-trade union laws that require us to have a mandate that expires after six months.
“Today is the last day under the anti-union laws that we can have a strike under the mandate. You get six months to run action. After that six months, you cannot take any more action. Today is the last Saturday of our previous mandate.
“We give two weeks’ notice under the law, which is what the government requirement is, but if we didn’t take strike action today, we wouldn’t have been able to take any more during that mandate. So, that’s down to the anti-trade union laws.”
Ministers again urged unions to put sub-inflation pay offers to their members, but Labour said the government had “guaranteed a weekend of chaos” by refusing to hold talks.
More trains will run than on Friday but most networks will have a very limited service as RMT members at 14 train operating companies in England strike.
A large number of smaller stations from the north to the south-east will close, while in many places trains will stop running by 7pm. Merseyrail, which is not affected by strikes, is running services but intercity trains will terminate earlier.
In Wales and Scotland, where unions are not in dispute, only cross-border services will be affected.
While Saturday was the last remaining date legally allowed under their existing mandate, RMT members have now voted to keep striking for another six months if necessary.
Mick Whelan, the Aslef general secretary, said on Friday he had been unaware that Eurovision would be affected by strikes, but added: “If somebody can name me a day where there’s not an event that isn’t going to get a hit at some point if there’s any form of disruption, I’d love to know.”
The rail minister Huw Merriman again urged the RMT and Aslef leadership to put the pay offers to a full vote, but unions have accused the government of hampering a deal.
Whelan said they had “neither had hide nor hair from the government that are meant to be facilitating and aiding these talks” since a meeting with Merriman on 6 January. The transport secretary, Mark Harper, has not met unions this year.
Lynch said earlier this week that the government had tied the hands of the railway companies and prevented them from offering a fair deal.
The Rail Delivery Group, representing train operators, has said it was “blindsided” by the RMT rejecting its last offer, which it claimed had been agreed by both sides in the negotiating room.
The shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said it was “staggering that complacent ministers haven’t held any talks to avert this disruptive strike action”.
“The Conservatives’ irresponsible approach is guaranteeing a weekend of chaos, and it’s the public will pay the price.”
Trains will also be disrupted over the next week, the industry has said, owing to an overtime ban brought in across 15 operating companies by Aslef from 15-20 May inclusive. Rail firms have said it could mean more cancellations and delays, and could particularly affect passengers travelling in and out of London.
Two further strikes are planned by drivers on 31 May and 3 June, the date of the FA Cup final.
