New train strikes in Sussex affect Gatwick route: what commuters need to know about RMT industrial action

Sussex will be affected in the strike, which is planned for Friday, June 2, as 20,000 railway workers across the country take action.

These include train managers, station staff and people who work in catering.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “The government is once again not allowing the Rail Delivery Group to make an improved offer that we can consider. Therefore, we have to pursue our industrial campaign to win a negotiated settlement on jobs, pay and conditions.”

The union called RDG’s previous offer and associated conditions ‘unacceptable’ and said: “Despite contact between the parties since the strike on 13 May, no new proposals have been formulated for the RMT to consider.”

The 14 train operators affected by the strike are: GTR (including Gatwick Express), Chiltern Railways, Cross Country Trains, Greater Anglia, LNER, East Midlands Railway, c2c, Great Western, Railway, Northern Trains, South Eastern, South Western Railway, Transpennine Express, Avanti West Coast and West Midlands Trains.

GTR stands for Govia Thameslink Railway, the UK’s largest railway franchise that operates Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express.

Mick Lynch said: “Ministers cannot just wish this dispute away. They underestimate the strength of feeling our members who have just given us a new 6-month strike mandate, continue to support the campaign and the action and are determined to see this through until we get an acceptable resolution. The government now needs to unlock the RDG and allow them to make an offer that can be put to a referendum of our members.”

There is also upcoming strike action by ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, meaning that there there will be no trains on certain dates. Click here to find out more.