Rail workers across the United Kingdom are set to stage further industrial action, in a bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at train companies and Network Rail will walk out for 24 hours on July 27, threatening travel chaos at the height of the summer holidays.
This comes after unions rejected a new offer from Network Rail, which leaders described as 'paltry'.
Read more: Train drivers striking over pay as commuters face more travel misery
An offer of a 4 per cent pay rise backdated to January, a further 2 per cent next year, and 2 per cent extra conditional on achieving 'modernisation milestones' was made, but the RMT is seeking an offer or guarantee over job losses from train operating companies (TOCs).
The Press Association reports that the RMT says they will be consulting with other unions which have delivered mandates for strike action over the coming days, with talks of co-ordinated walkouts in the process.
Members of the driver's union Aslef, and the Transport Salaried Staff's Association (TSSA) at train companies have showed favour for industrial action in recent times - with RMT secretary, Mick Lynch, calling for 'drastic changes'.
He said: “The offer from Network Rail represents a real terms pay cut for our members and the paltry sum is conditional on RMT members agreeing to drastic changes in their working lives. We have made progress on compulsory redundancies, but Network Rail are still seeking to make our members poorer when we have won in some cases double what they are offering, with other rail operators.
“The train operating companies remain stubborn and are refusing to make any new offer which deals with job security and pay. Strike action is the only course open to us to make both the rail industry and Government understand that this dispute will continue for as long as it takes, until we get a negotiated settlement.
“The public who will be inconvenienced by our strike action need to understand that it is the Government’s shackling of Network Rail and the TOCs that means the rail network will be shut down for 24 hours.”
The RMT held three strikes last month which crippled services across the country. Residents of the north east are worried about further rail action, with providers who run services through key regional stations in Durham and Newcastle such as LNER, CrossCountry and Transpenine all potentially participating.
The Tyne and Wear Metro Service, which provides local transport at affordable prices across the region were also previously affected by the strikes - running fewer services while action was taking place last month.
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