British railway workers went on a 24-hour strike on Saturday, which was expected to cause major disruptions as strikes resumed after the Queen Elizabeth II mourning period.
After workers ended work stoppages in response to the death of the queen on September 8, members of four trade unions began the action.
It is the most recent strike by train workers in response to a problem in the cost of living and their demand for salary hikes to keep up with decades-high inflation.
Since the summer, tens of thousands of employees across Britain have also gone on strike in a variety of sectors, including telecoms, the postal service, and the legal and judicial institutions.
A second eight-day walkout by employees at Felixstowe in eastern England, the largest container port in the United Kingdom, is presently underway and is only scheduled to finish on Wednesday.
However, the industrial unrest has been mostly driven by the rail industry, which has had its worst stoppages in decades.
The most recent was initially scheduled for the week following the queen’s passing but was later delayed. On Wednesday and maybe on other days later in the month, a sizable number of rail workers plan to strike once more.
The walkout this weekend falls on the same day as training for Sunday’s London Marathon, which will make it difficult for competitors to get there, and the annual conference of the ruling Conservatives, which begins the same day in Birmingham.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union’s general secretary, Mick Lynch, apologised to those affected but placed the burden on the government.
As he joined other striking employees on picket lines around the nation, he told the BBC, “The government has brought this disagreement on.”
“They (placed) the burden of cutting our employment, our pensions, and our earnings in line with inflation on us.”
Network Rail’s Tim Shoveller, who owns and operates Britain’s railway system, called the strikes a “big own goal” that would leave “less money to spend on the railway.”
