Eurovision 2023 final fans heading to Liverpool face fresh train chaos as RMT rail workers strike
Thousands of Eurovision fans heading to Liverpool for Saturday evening’s final face fresh travel miserey as rail workers strike again.
Workers from the RMT union have walked out in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions, with 14 train companies services affected.
Train drivers from Aslef also launched a strike on Friday ahead of the Eurovision final, which the UK is hosting for the first time in 46 years.
Limited services are running on most lines, but Merseyrail is not affected by the industrial action and is expected to run a normal service.
National Express has 33 extra services to Liverpool to allow fans get to the Eurovision final.
It comes after i revealed on Friday that the breakdown in industrial relations between the rail unions and the Government means the ongoing train dispute could last for years like the miners’ strikes in the 1980s.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper has accused striking rail workers of “cynically targeting” the final, which is being held in Liverpool after last year’s winners, Ukraine, were unable to host the event due to the ongoing war.
Speaking from a picket line at Euston station, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch denied targeting the Eurovision final and claimed that Saturday was chosen as it was the last day of the union’s strike mandate.
And he has warned the RMT is considering joining Aslef in taking strike action on the day of the FA Cup final, saying “we will look at that next week” with more strikes possible if a settlement is not reached.
He also accused the Government of holding negotiators from the union and the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) representing operators “in a straitjacket”.
“If we get a deal that is clear in its meaning and we’re allowed to keep our or enable to keep our [strike] mandate going so that we get leverage at the negotiating table, perhaps we can move forward. But the devil is always in the detail of these documents,” he told Sky News.
He said a previous offer from the RDG to rail workers had not been put to union members as it was “not acceptable”.
Speaking from a picket line at Euston Station, he said: “It [the RDG offer] doesn’t meet the demands in the dispute. They know that, they knew that when it was offered.”
He added: “It’s up to the government to unblock this dispute because they have a final say on what is proposed at the table in their contracts with these companies.
“They stipulate what the negotiating position is. They stipulate what the offers are. And those offers simply aren’t good enough.”
Shadow Transport Secretary Alison McGovern said the RMT have to “deal with” putting any offer to its members, but insisted it wasn’t up to a Labour MP to “tell unions the detail of negotiation and micromanage that”.
Aslef’s general secretary Mick Whelan revealed there had been no meetings with the Government since early January despite continuing deadlock over the pay row.
The train drivers’ union has described an offer of an 8 per cent wage rise over two years as “risible” and has called further stoppages on 31 May 31 and 3 June, the day of the FA Cup Final at Wembley.
Saturday’s strike will affect services on Avanti West Coast, c2c, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Gatwick Express, Great Northern, GWR, Greater Anglia (including Stansted Express), Heathrow Express, LNER, London Northwestern Railway, Northern, South Western Railway, Southeastern, Southern, Thameslink, TransPennine Express, and West Midlands Railway.
