Xmas strikes 'death knell' for sector
The RMT yesterday (Monday 5 December), confirmed further strike action would be taken from 6pm on Saturday 24 December to 5:59am on Tuesday 27 December, coinciding with a series of 48-hour walk outs already scheduled to take place across December and January as well as an overtime ban.
UKHospitality Chief Executive Kate Nicholls said: “These further rail strikes will be hugely damaging for hospitality businesses, their workers and their customers as it seems almost guaranteed that we will be facing a heavily disrupted Christmas for the third year in a row.
“Our estimate of the cost of these strikes already stood at £1.5bn in lost sales and it’s incredibly frustrating a solution has yet to be reached to avoid this disruption during the golden month of trade for our sector.
“We’re continuing to urge all parties involved in the negotiations to reach a solution imminently to avoid these harmful strikes.”
Further chaos
Disputes regarding pay and working conditions are expected to continue as the RMT reportedly rejected Network Rail’s “best and final offer”, which included a 5% and 4% pay rise this year and next year respectively as well as no compulsory redundancies for workers who are not managers until 31 January 2025.
Night-Time Industries Association (NTIA) CEO Michael Kill said: “Further strike action across the Christmas period will be the death knell for many NTE businesses.
“These businesses are suffering heavily, with thousands of bookings being cancelled and some attempting to bring bookings forward to avoid strike action, creating further chaos.
“In previous strike action days, we have seen in some cases up to 40% lost in trade, with billions of pounds in revenue in the balance over the holiday period, which they are relying on to survive.
Unacceptable actions
“It is clear public opinion is shifting, with many angry at being unable to enjoy a traditional festive period after 3 years of disruption. The actions of the unions and rail companies in reaching a resolution at such a critical time is unacceptable."
Kill added many businesses within the hospitality sector would "not survive" amid further industrial on top of the ongoing inflation crisis and "Government intervention" would be required for those at the "sharpest end of this crisis".
This comes as last week RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the union does “understand the impact” made by rail strikes on the hospitality sector amid pleas from industry leaders for a resolution, but claimed the Government had an “astonishing” lack of urgency in resolving the issue.
Furthermore, Lynch claimed the Government would have “bailed out” the rail companies by providing some £318m to cover the cost of the strikes by the end of the next round of action, giving them “no incentive” to settle the disputes.
He added: "To be clear, as a result of this indemnification, if these strikes go ahead, the rail companies will continue to make profits while you will lose money.”
