On the go: London Underground staff members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers will walk out once more as part of their pensions dispute on June 21, to coincide with the biggest set of transport strikes in decades.
On June 7, the RMT announced three days of national industrial action, with more than 50,000 workers set to walk out in the UK’s biggest transport dispute since 1989.
“The union will shut down the country’s railway network” on June 21, 23 and 25, “due to the inability of the rail employers to come to a negotiated settlement with RMT”, it said.
RMT said that London Underground members will strike on June 21 over pensions and job losses.
Unite is also joining the walkout on this day, with the union claiming over 1,000 of its members will protest at "plans to slash the value of their pensions and close the existing final salary scheme".
In March, at least two of the country’s biggest transport unions threatened industrial action after an independent review of the Transport for London Pension Scheme mooted possible pension reforms that would cut benefits.
In the same month, RMT members carried out two days of strikes on the Underground as part of the pensions dispute.
Sir Brendan Barber’s independent review of TfL’s pension arrangements began after the transport authority and central government agreed a bailout in June 2021.
The report admitted that changes to the scheme would impact benefits and pay elsewhere, and affect TfL’s ability to recruit and retain staff.
It put forward four options for the future make-up of the TfL scheme. These included keeping the scheme’s current arrangements, offering a modified final salary scheme, moving to a defined benefit scheme based on career average revalued earnings, or a Care scheme with tiered contributions.
“Almost all of the benefit combination scenarios see reductions in the future service benefits available to members, and increased contributions compared to the current position,” the report said.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch warned: “RMT is open to meaningful negotiations with rail bosses and ministers, but they will need to come up with new proposals to prevent months of disruption on our railways.”
