Monday 23 May 2022 10:28 PM Fears over freight supplies to power stations and supermarkets if unions vote ... trends now
Power blackouts, petrol shortages and empty shelves loom if rail unions vote to strike, it emerged tonight.
At least four in five services could be cancelled if RMT chiefs win support on Wednesday for summer walkouts.
Freight trains supplying critical power plants would be severely disrupted, hitting electricity feeds to millions of homes.
Ministers have been told the lights could go out in some areas if the strikes last more than a couple of days. Tesco and Puma Energy, which supplies garage forecourts, have raised concerns about the impact that strikes could have on their supply lines.
RMT boss Mick Lynch warned: ‘Until ministers heed our very real concerns over pay, safety and jobs, our members have the democratic right to take industrial action.’
In response, rail chiefs are drawing up emergency plans to prioritise freight trains on some routes in a bid to keep the lights on and the country moving. They fear that only enough signallers will remain working to allow 20 per cent of trains to run.
‘It’s the freight flows which are of most concern,’ said a well-placed source.
‘Most of the freight companies tell us they can cope with one or two days of industrial action in one go. But if you get consecutive days of action, then there could be very significant disruption.’
They said the Drax power station in North Yorkshire, which services millions of homes, could stockpile supplies sufficient only for two or three days. ‘It’s potentially very disruptive if it goes on for three to four consecutive days,’ the insider added.
‘At best we can cover about 20 per cent of the work with back-up signallers.’
The RMT, whose leaders have been branded ‘Putin apologists’ over apparent pro-Russian sympathies, has balloted around 40,000 members on strike action with results to be announced on Wednesday.
The dispute is over pay and the 2,500 job losses proposed by Network Rail that the union claims would compromise safety. Historically the RMT has tended to stage isolated 24-hour walkouts but in 2016 a three-day strike left millions of commuters in the lurch.
Ministers are being urged to offer a small pay increase in a bid to get the RMT around the negotiating table.
Rail bosses are understood to favour an increase of less than half of what union barons are demanding, which is a pay rise in line with the RPI rate of inflation – cur - rently 11.1 per cent.
Historically, the RMT has tended to stage isolated 24-hour walkouts but in 2016
