Industrial action could continue “indefinitely” unless ministers back down on key demands, Mick Lynch, head of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers union (RMT) has warned.
These demands include ministers reneging on calls to remove guards from trains, and for the train network to be a driver-only operation (DOO).
“[Strikes] will be indefinite if that is their position,” he said, adding the union “would go down on this issue”, he said, as reported in The Telegraph.
The Telegraph reported earlier this week that the DOO condition, inserted in an offer by train operators late on Sunday, came at the request of Downing Street, as it understood to have quashed hopes of averting the strikes this Christmas.
It has been reported that the hospitality sector is anticipating this Christmas’ rail strikes to cost £1.5bn in lost sales are people cancelling Christmas parties and social plans.
More than a third of Christmas bookings are expected to be cancelled this month.
Restaurants said they have also been hit by England’s success in the men’s football World Cup, with a slew of cancellations for this Saturday, usually one of the busiest nights for festive gatherings, when the team are due to play France in the quarter-finals, according to a report in The Guardian.
