Some 40,000 British railway workers are on strike for wages and jobs on Wednesday, a month after their biggest strike in 30 years, amid the crisis of purchasing power in the United Kingdom.
Failing to have won its case after three days of historic strike at the end of June, the rail union RMT called for a 24-hour walkout, hoping in particular to obtain better wages in the face of inflation which is soaring in the country and could exceed 11% by the end of the year.
A hot topic to be tackled by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s successor, who resigned on July 7 after a series of scandals and lies. The head of diplomacy Liz Truss and the ex-finance minister Rishi Sunak are the two finalists in the race to succeed him.
Due to the strike, only around one in five trains will run on Wednesday, across around half of the network, and some areas will see no trains running all day.
The strike also affected the circulation of Eurostar trains, causing cancellations and schedule changes.
In addition to this action, the RMT and TSA unions will launch coordinated strikes on August 18 and 20 and RMT has announced a strike in the London Underground on August 19.