RAIL union RMT has announced that railway workers will walk out across the country on October 8 in the ongoing fight over jobs, pay and working conditions.
After a "summer of solidarity", over 40,000 RMT members from Network Rail and 15 train operating companies will take to picket lines once again, effectively shutting down the railway network.
Strike action will take place at Network Rail and 15 train operating companies listed below:
- Chiltern Railways Cross Country Trains
- Greater Anglia
- LNER
- East Midlands Railway
- c2c
- Great Western Railway
- Hull Trains Northern Trains
- South Eastern South
- Western Railway Transpennine Express
- Avanti
- West Coast
- West Midlands Trains
- GTR (including Gatwick Express)
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that it was encouraging that the new Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan had met with the union, however, there has still been no new offer tabled.
He said: "We welcome this more positive approach from the government to engage with us as a first step to finding a suitable settlement.
"We will continue to negotiate in good faith, but the employers and government need to understand our industrial campaign will continue for as long as it takes.”
This announcement is in addition to the strike action planned on October 1. This 24-hour action will bring the railway “to an effective standstill”, the union said.
RMT members in cleaning grades on Avanti West Coast services will also take 24 hours of strike action Friday 23 in a row over low wages and sick pay.
