UK Rail Workers Have Major Strike in 33 Years

Thousands of workers started the biggest rail strike in 33 years in the United Kingdom on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Therefore, millions of passengers are going to face long days of chaos as there several delays, and mess with schedules.

More than 40,000 rail staff members were stormed in a major strike that will continue on Thursday, and Saturday, and it caused major disruption across all UK due to the major shifts in tables, especially after the closing of the London Underground.

On the other hand, the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) has called the strike as an "aggressive agenda" against freezing pay, and other cuts including jobs, and pensions.

That's why 20 percent of normal rail services staff have shorter hours on the three-day strike.

A retired electrical engineer of Hadston, Northumberland, was standing at Newcastle station to travel to Newark with his wife Pauline.

He told the Mirror: "We are both Tory voters but they are starting to fall apart. Under Cameron we had Austerity and then Theresa May said it had ended. But now we have people who are on the same wages as 9/10 years ago."

He added: "The strike action is justified but it always comes down to the same thing - the Government wants to keep pay rises to about two percent while working people want rises to go up with inflation."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the strike would cause more damage to the businesses that are still recovering from COVID-19. In addition, he condemned the strike.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps denied RMT's claims that the Tories prevented employers and the union from reaching a settlement with the government.

Previously, Unions said the rail strikes may mark the beginning of a "summer of discontent" with other sectors of employees in the UK including teachers, medical teams members, waste disposal workers and it could also include barristers as inflation jumped by 10%.

 The Secretary-General of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), Mick Lynch said: "RMT members are leading the way for all workers in this country who are sick and tired of having their pay and conditions slashed by a mixture of big business profits and government policy."