More misery on the rail network after talks fail to resolve pay dispute

Commuters face more travel misery as railway workers launch a fresh strike after talks failed to resolve a bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will walk out for 48 hours, crippling services across the country.

Meanwhile, ministers were warned that industrial action by NHS nurses could escalate unless pay concerns were addressed.

The latest rail stoppage will hit 14 companies and Network Rail.

Passengers are being urged to only travel if necessary.

Services will start later and finish earlier, with some areas having no trains.

A meeting was held on Thursday but failed to break the deadlock.

The RMT said: “RMT attended talks convened by the rail minister Huw Merriman tonight (Thursday) including Network Rail and the Rail Delivery Group and agreed to further discussions.”

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that the minister requested further talks between the RMT and the employers in order to find resolutions.

“These meetings will be arranged but, in the meantime, all industrial action remains in place,” he said.

Mr Merriman argued that there is “clearly an appetite amongst the workers themselves to strike a deal” after the TSSA union accepted a pay offer from Network Rail.

The walkout follows two days of RMT strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday and is the latest strike in a winter of woe for the Government, which is being blamed for a series of industrial disputes.

On Thursday nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland went on strike in the Royal College of Nursing’s first national action.

RCN leader Pat Cullen warned that action by nurses would escalate unless ministers were prepared to get around the table and negotiate in the dispute over pay and conditions.

The RCN has argued that low wages are driving “chronic understaffing” which puts patients at risk and leaves nurses overworked, underpaid and undervalued, but ministers have refused to discuss salaries, insisting that should be left to independent pay review bodies.

Thursday’s action involved about a quarter of hospitals and community teams in England and the RCN warned it could go further if the Government continues to hold out.

Ms Cullen told BBC’s Question Time: “We started today with 46 organisations. And why did we do that? We did that because we wanted to make sure that we manage this strike safely and effectively for every patient, the people that I’m speaking with here tonight in this room, and every other patient in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.

“As time moves on – unfortunately if this Government doesn’t speak to us and doesn’t get into a room – I’m afraid that this will escalate.”