Around 40,000 RMT staff will walk out on Saturday 8 October in a bitter pay dispute to “effectively shut down the network”. 1 RMT leader Mick Lynch said he had ‘no choice’ but to strike as wage demands were not metCredit: Alamy More strikes had already been announced for Saturday 1 October and Wednesday 5 October. RMT boss Mick Lynch praised new Transport Minister Anne Marie Trevelyan for meeting with his union but insisted he had “no choice” but to strike as his pay demands were not met. He said: “We will continue to bargain in good faith but employers and the government must understand that our industrial campaign will continue for as long as necessary.” But Tory MP Greg Smith fumed: “The strategy of strike, strike, strike is not going to win. “I call on them to stop this action for the sake of the leisure industry and the economy, to prevent people from going to football games, seeing friends and going out.” “They should want secure and well-paying jobs, but they’re driving away their own customers.” A Network Rail spokesman said: “This latest strike will again mean very significant disruption for passengers and we will ask people to only travel if absolutely necessary due to the reduced services that will be in place.” More industrial action is set to wreak havoc during Labor’s conference in Liverpool next Monday as rail union TSSA launches a 24-hour walkout over pay, conditions and job security.
