London, March 26: Union leaders in Britain have announced that rail workers will go on a four-day strike, threatening the worst national rail disruptions in 16 years.
Thousands of members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association employed by Network Rail will walk off their jobs from April 06 to April 09.
Although Easter holiday travellers will be spared, the walkout by signal workers, scheduled to include the weekdays’ morning rush hour, is expected to disrupt the commutes of scores of people.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said the unions are protesting cost-cutting measures proposed by Network Rail that he insisted would undermine safety across Britain’s railways and threaten rail workers’ job security.
“Network Rail, in a drive to slash 21 percent from their budget, want to axe 1,500 maintenance posts, lump maintenance functions on to overworked signallers, rip up agreements and impose changes that will quite clearly undermine safety across our railways,” he said.
Network Rail countered that changes were necessary to provide a better service.
“Negotiations, not strikes, are the way forward,” said Robin Gisby, the company’s director of operations and customer services.
–PTI