LONDON (Reuters) -London underground rail staff plan to strike on Aug. 19 over jobs and pensions, the RMT union said on Tuesday, in the latest industrial dispute that could disrupt Britain’s transport services.
“Unless there can be assurances made about jobs, pensions and detrimental changes to working conditions, then our strike on August 19 will go ahead,” RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said.
The union said Transport for London (TfL) had failed to engage in talks about safeguarding jobs and pensions. TfL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More than 40,000 members of the RMT and the TSSA union are also staging a walkout on Wednesday that could leave half of Britain’s overground rail network closed, a repeat of action that brought most services to a standstill for three days last month.
Britain is facing growing industrial unrest, affecting a range industries from shipping to rail and education, as wages fail to keep up with soaring inflation which is forecast to top 10% later this year.
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; editing by Michael Holden)
