What we know about if there are train, doctor and bus strikes planned next month

Strike action will hit Britain’s roads, railways, hospitals and airports once again in September, as unions continue to fight for better pay and conditions for their members amid the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Action called by both the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and the Aslef drivers’ union will disrupt train travel, while a consultant strike called by the British Medical Association will cause the cancellation of thousands more operations.

Buses in Manchester and Warwickshire will be affected by action organised by Unite, and the same union is also involved in a dispute that will hit Wizz Air flights from Luton airport.

Here’s everything you need to know about September’s strike action, broken down by industry.

Rail strikes

Rail staff represented by the RMT will strike on Saturday 2 September. More than 20,000 workers are set to walk out at the following 14 train companies, bringing much of the rail network to a standstill:

• Avanti West Coast
• c2c
• Chiltern Railways
• CrossCountry
• East Midlands Railway
• Great Western Railway
• Greater Anglia
• LNER
• Northern Trains
• Southeastern
• South Western Railway
• Transpennine Express
• West Midlands Trains and GTR (including Gatwick Express)

Drivers represented by Aslef are holding a separate strike on Friday 1 September, while the union will also ban overtime on Saturday 2 September.

The following operators are affected by the Aslef action:

• Avanti West Coast
• c2c
• Chiltern Railways
• CrossCountry
• East Midlands Railway
• Greater Anglia
• GTR Great Northern Thameslink
• Great Western Railway
• Island Line
• LNER
• Northern Trains
• Southeastern
• Southern/Gatwick Express
• South Western Railway
• TransPennine Express
• West Midlands Trains

The RMT said it had been left with “little choice” but to take further action as it had seen no improved or revised offer from the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents the rail companies.

An RDG spokesperson said: “With further strike action the RMT are once again targeting customers looking to enjoy various sporting events, festivals and the end of the summer holidays, disrupting their plans and forcing more cars on to the road.

“We have now made three offers, the latest of which would have given staff pay rises of up to 13 per cent as well as job security guarantees, and the RMT executive have blocked this without a convincing explanation.”

Doctors’ strike

NHS consultants in England will strike on Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 September if the Government continues to “refuse to agree to pay talks” and present the profession with a credible offer, the BMA said.

They are disputing the 6 per cent pay rise the Government have previously announced, saying consultants’ pay has fallen in real terms by 35 per cent since 2008 due to a series of below-inflation rises.

The September walkouts will consist of “Christmas Day” cover, whereby emergency services will remain in place.

Thousands of operations, procedures and appointments will likely have to be cancelled and rescheduled as during the previous round of strikes.

The announcement comes weeks after junior doctors also walked out of hospitals for five days – the longest strike in NHS history.

NHS Providers’ Miriam Deakin said the strike meant more disruption for patients and will pile on pressure to the NHS.

“Over 835,000 operations and appointments have been delayed since December due to nine months of back-to-back industrial action,” she said.

“But the knock-on disruption will be felt for months to come with many more patients not being booked in for appointments during strike days and others having their appointments rescheduled.”

Bus strikes

First Bus Manchester drivers represented by Unite are continuing an ongoing strike over pay, and will walk out from Monday 4 to Friday 8 September.

The following reduced services will be operating between approximately 7am and 7pm:

• Route 409 every 15 minutes
• Route 82 every hour
• Route 425 every 30 minutes
• Route 426 every hour

The same union has also launched strike action among 300 Stagecoach Warwickshire drivers, beginning on Tuesday 5 September and continuing throughout the month.

Unite said the action, which has been called over a pay dispute, “will inevitably cause severe disruption to bus passengers throughout Warwickshire”.

A Stagecoach spokesperson said: “Strike action will unnecessarily affect our local communities and employees and will threaten the longer term sustainability of the local bus networks we operate today.

“We are currently working on plans should industrial action take place, to ensure we operate school and college services during strike days.”

Luton airport strikes

Approximately 80 ground handling staff working for GH London on behalf of Wizz Air at Luton airport will strike on Wednesday 6 September and Wednesday 13 September, in action organised by Unite.

Unite said the action will “cause huge disruption to Wizz’s schedule”. Aviation analytics firm Cirium has estimated around 78,000 passengers could be impacted.

A Wizz Air spokesperson said: “We are in touch with Luton Airport and our ground handling partner and are doing everything within our control to limit disruptions for passengers.”

They added the airline will “will reach out to any affected passengers who booked directly with the airline via email and SMS and let them know their options as soon as we have an update”.