The railways in England are striking this weekend. This means that many routes will be disrupted, though there’s no easy way to know exactly which ones and what kind of disruption. Will our train be running? Will it be delayed? Will it be full? Will it decide at the last minute to take an extended coffee break? The bottom line is we’re not sure where we’ll be sleeping Saturday night. I’ve scoured the rail sites and come up with a list of possibilities. Now that I'm a British citizen, I feel I can actually have, and voice, my opinion on rail strikes, or any strikes in the UK for that matter. The striking union is ASLEF, Britain's trade union for 21,000+ train drivers. I'm on the union side. According to Mick Whelan, Aslef's general secretary, drivers have not received a pay increase since 2019. Whelan states, 'Our executive committee met this morning and rejected a risible proposal we received from the Rail Delivery Group (RDG). The proposal, of just 4%, was clearly not designed to be accepted as inflation is still running north of 10%...The RDG, in turn, rejected our proposals to modernise Britain's railways and help them run more efficiently, for passengers and for businesses, in the 21st century."
So, we'll see. They were striking last fall when we in in England, and I'm hoping it gets resolved soon. By this Saturday would be nice.
Gsy
5/13/2023 10:30:40 am
I love the picture at the top of the blog! Cheers! Comments are closed.
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AuthorOn one of our trips to England Bob and I discover the South West Coast Path. Life has never been the same. Now our goal is to walk the whole 630-mile hike, one path, pub, cider, and cream tea at a time. This blog follows our May 2023 trip. Categories
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