Transport secretary Grant Shapps has called on striking rail workers to call off the third walkout of the week scheduled for Saturday as weekend travel chaos looms. Posting on Twitter this afternoon, he said: “The RMT’s unwarranted strikes haven’t caused the mass overcrowding on buses or heavy congestion on our roads some feared. “But the Union is damaging the lives of everyday hardworking people that they claim to represent. “They should call off Saturday’s strike now.”Passengers have been warned to “only travel by train if necessary”, with only a fifth of services set to run and half of lines closed as 40,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union walk out over jobs, pay, pensions and conditions. This week’s strikes are unlikely to be the end of the disruption, however, with an announcement that another union – the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) – will vote on industrial action throughout the summer.

Source: The Times June 24, 2022 11:50 UTC