Additional rail strikes called by RMT Union for July 2023

On 22 June 2023, RMT Union (the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers) announced that 20,000 railway workers from across 14 train operating companies (TOCs) will take strike action on 20, 22 and 29 July 2023. The action has been called as a result of a pay dispute with train operators.

RMT’s General Secretary, Mick Lynch, said: “This latest phase of action will show the country just how important railway staff are to the running of the rail industry… The government continues to shackle the companies and will not allow them to put forward a package that can settle this dispute.”

In response to RMT’s latest statement that called for more strikes, the Department for Transport (DfT) released the following statement: “The RMT leadership’s decision to call strikes targeting two iconic international sporting events, as children and families begin their summer holidays, will disrupt people’s plans across the country. After a year of industrial action, passengers and rail workers alike are growing tired of union bosses playing politics with their lives. It’s high time the union leaders realised that strikes no longer have the impact they once did and are simply driving people away from the railway. This government has played its part by facilitating fair and reasonable pay offers that would see generous increases for rail workers. Union leaders should do the right thing and give their members a chance to vote on these pay offers.”

This latest announcement marks over a year since the first instance of strike action occurred on 21 June 2022. Since then, multiple rounds of strike action have continued to impact the operation of the UK railway.