UKHospitality demands 'urgent resolutions' to rail strikes
Yesterday (10 November) saw RMT workers go on strike over working conditions, bringing nearly the entire London Underground network to a standstill in the process.
It follows a series of walk-outs in recent months by rail workers across the UK train network, which has caused significant travel disruption and led to city centre hospitality businesses reporting a 40% to 50% sales drop.
“At a time when hospitality businesses are grappling with soaring costs and chronic staff shortages, the cumulative effect of strikes by rail and tube workers is enormous,” says Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality.
“Businesses continue to lose customers who can’t travel and they struggle to serve the ones that do visit, due to staff being unable to get into work.
“Footfall in cities across the country still remains well down on pre-pandemic levels and stifling that even further through strikes is incredibly damaging to businesses. This is even more pronounced today (Thursday 10 November), typically one of the busiest trading days in the working week.”
National rail strikes had also been planned for this week, but were called off at the last minute, raising hope of a breakthrough between the RMT and National Rail. However, no further announcements have yet been made.
“It’s essential that all parties now work together to come to a resolution that can ensure further rail and tube strikes are avoided at all costs,” adds Nicholls.
