Tens of thousands of railway workers on historic strike in UK
2 Min Read
Low pay and job security are the driving forces behind the walkout.
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Rail workers strike outside Preston Station on the first day of the national rail strike in Preston, Britain, June 21, 2022. (Reuters)
Tens of thousands of rail workers have staged a day-long walkout in protest over pay and job security, which led to sending commutes into chaos, forcing many to stay at home in the UK.
The British railway system travels have nearly halted again on Thursday amid the second of 3 days of nationwide strike this week, which has been the biggest in decades.
Only one-fifth, approximately, of services are set to operate in set hours which have been heavily reduced, starting a lot later than usual in the morning and ending as early as 6:30 pm.
The third day is planned for Saturday, as fears arise that the walkouts would last for weeks in the future as Britain grapples with severe inflation and sluggish economic growth - stagflation.
It, however, does not stop here. On Thursday, British Airways workers at London's Heathrow Airport have also voted to strike over low wages. However, the unions did not specify when the strikes would happen but hinted that they will be taking place during the high season. The airport is already suffering from staff shortages.
A complete meltdown at Heathrow yesterday. The staff just gave up and the luggage stayed pic.twitter.com/g3iu9nBNcB
— BarbaraJMay3 🇺🇦 (@StPaulgirl3) June 18, 2022
"The ultimate result is for us to receive some kind of a fair pay raise and assurances that our jobs are going to be secure for the near future," striking rail worker Matthew Larkin told AFP from a picket line at a London station.
![In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had "engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)](https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2024/12/21/b4a69f2e-8682-43e4-9d37-49482b304ab3/3.png?v=2&format=webp "In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had \"engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)")
