The travel industry’s reprieve from the threat of a national train strikes has proved only temporary. The industry had expressed fears that the planned four-day strike – the first in 16 years – which was due to start on Tuesday April 6 could severely affect travellers over the Easter weekend. While the strike was called off yesterday after the High Court ruled it was illegal following a challenge by Network Rail, RMT general secretary Bob Crow pledged to hold fresh ballots over continued concerns about job cuts and work hours. Crow said: “Workers fighting for the principle of a safe railway have had the whole weight of the law thrown against them.” Network Rail’s legal challenge concerned only the ballot of signallers, and did not relate to the RMT’s ballot of maintenance workers and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) ballot of supervisors. But after the ruling, RMT and TSSA announced the two other strikes would be suspended and fresh ballots would be held, the timetable for which would be announced on Wednesday.
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