Avoidance of further rail strikes 'imperative' to sector's health
This comes as last month saw the biggest network dispute in more than 30 years take place with strike action across 13 rail companies on Tuesday 21 June, Thursday 23 June and Saturday 25 June, causing some city pubs to see a 50% decline in sales and potential loss of £540m, according to the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA).
Travel with confidence
BBPA chief executive Emma McClarkin said: “Pubs had a difficult week with transport disruptions, with some city centre pubs reporting a 50% fall in sales.
“As an industry we really are trying hard to bounce back after the pandemic, but we are faced time and time again with new hurdles from rising costs to labour shortages and now severe transport disruption.
“It is imperative to the health of our industry further strikes are avoided so customers and staff alike are able to travel with confidence and keep our pubs thriving.”
Negotiated settlement
The comments from Lynch contradict the organisation’s senior assistant general secretary, Eddie Dempsey, who last week told the BBC’s Today Programme RMT had made a “pretty empathetic point” with the strikes but the boardroom did not take the steps “lightly” and was “in no rush” to take further action.
In a statement on the RMT website dated 30 June Lynch said: “Despite attempts to undermine our action, the rail network barely ran any services and many of those were delayed on a tiny timetable.
“Without the work of RMT members, the railway network cannot run in this country and we will take further effective strike action if a negotiated settlement on pay and job security cannot be reached.”
At the time of publication, negotiations had not reached a settlement.
