Rail passengers face a summer of huge disruption as employees voted tonight for the largest strike in more than 25 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Members of the RMT union supported strike action over salary, conditions, the loss of 2,500 Network Rail maintenance jobs, and reforms that the union alleges would result in a wave of ticket office closures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The overwhelming majority of strike ballots were approved tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Workers at 13 of the 15 balloted companies, as well as Network Rail, voted to strike. Workers at a 14th company, GTR, which includes the Gatwick Express, voted for non-strike action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only one of the 15 companies, the modest Island Line, has employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the RMT, 71 percent of those polled participated in the vote, with 89 percent voting in favor of strike action and only 11 percent voting against.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Strikes could stretch from Scotland to Cornwall as the RMT demands that job losses be reversed and that wage rises exceed RPI inflation, which is currently 11.1 percent, after two years of freezes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He predicted that walkouts might begin as early as mid-June and refused to rule out the possibility of them continuing into next year or growing into a nationwide strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under David Cameron’s strike thresholds, ballots in 15 railway operating companies and Network Rail have to have at least 50% turnout. In addition, at least 40% of all members eligible to vote have to support strike action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rail passengers face a summer of huge disruption as employees voted tonight for the largest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1122],"class_list":["post-17270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editors-picks","tag-rail"],"yoast_head":"\n