UK rail strikes to proceed after unions reject offer

Bloomberg

UK train services were brought to a near standstill on Tuesday after workers started the country’s biggest rail strike in more than three decades, with union leaders and government at odds over issues such as pay.
A proposal from 13 train operating companies was turned down on Monday, National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers General Secretary Mick Lynch said in a statement broadcast from near Euston Station, north London. Some 40,000 staff began the walkout from midnight, with further stoppages planned for Thursday and Saturday.
The failure of negotiations means employees at the train firms and track manager Network Rail aren’t at work, while a separate action by 10,000 London Underground staff has hobbled transport within the capital. Only about 20% of national rail services are running, with Scotland and Wales among areas hit hardest.
Although train operators reported quiet stations during the usual morning peak, suggesting most people had found other ways to get to their jobs or were working from home, Transport Minister Grant Shapps said the walkout is “taking us back to the bad old days of union strikes.”
“It’s not acceptable to disrupt businesses that are just getting back on their feet — they are hurting precisely the people they claim to be protecting,” he told Sky News.
Shapps pledged to prepare for any future industrial action should the dispute continue, though measures such as bringing in temporary workers were condemned by the RMT’s Lynch, also on Sky, who said they would not be adequately trained.