Will the strikes prove terminal for Britain’s railways?

Today is being dubbed ‘Walkout Wednesday’: thousands of schools are shut as teachers go on strike – and civil servants and lecturers are also on the picket line. Railway staff continue their strike today too and there is little sign of the strike deadlock being broken. We’re losing more working days to industrial action than at any point since the 1980s. A large chunk of industrial action is made up by rail strikes, and the government fears ‘a generation’ of passengers will be put off train travel for good. Might the strikes prove terminal for Britain’s railways?

The RMT, which is responsible for the latest walkout, is at the forefront of the action. The union is still holding out on a pay offer worth 5 per cent, then 4 per cent over the next two years. Aslef, which represents train drivers and is also staging a strike today, is seeking an inflation-busting pay rise.