RMT Strike June 2022: Will protest affect people in Birmingham, what are the dates and why is it happening?

On 7 June, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) confirmed that three days of strike action would take place across the UK.

Train companies and services across the country will be affected, including many in and out of Birmingham.

The strike action is set to fall when events are taking place in and around Birmingham, events which many people will be looking to get the train to.

When is the strike action?

RMT announced that the three days of planned strike action are set to be Tuesday 21, Thursday 23 and Saturday 25 June.

Over 50,000 railway workers will walkout as part of three  days of national strike action later this month, in the biggest dispute on the network since 1989.

Why is RMT going on strike?

Members of the RMT union have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action to assure higher wages, job security, and no compulsory redundancies.

Which train companies are affected by the strike?

A total of 13 train companies will have staff on strike on the planned days of action, and several of these operate services through Birmingham train stations.

These include West Midlands Railway, CrossCountry, and Avanti West Coast.

The full breakdown of affected routes can be found in this related BirminghamWorld article.

The full list of the train companies due to be impacted by the strike action is listed below:

• Network Rail
• 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,
• West Midlands Trains

Which events could be affected by the strike?

We have pieced together some of the events that are due to take place around the city on the three days of planned strike action.

21 June

Icelandic rock band KALEO are set to play at the O2 Institute in Birmingham on the night of the first strike action.

At the Birmingham Symphony Hall on the same evening, American comedian and actor Jeff Garlin will be performing a stand up set.

Garlin will be most familiar for his roles in sitcoms The Goldbergs and Arrested Development.

23 June

Actor and singer Lea Salonga, most well known as the singer voice for Mulan in the two animated Disney classics, is performing at the Birmingham Symphony Hall on the second planned day of strike action.

Across the city, at the Utilita Arena, Canadian singer Alanis Morisette will perform as part of her UK tour.

Both of these shows start in the evening, and fans hoping to get the train to and from the arenas may need to double check which trains will be operating when planning their journeys.

25 June

Texan pop rock group Splash are performing at the O2 Academy in Birmingham on the night of the final day of planned strike action.

The wide range of club and party nights which are regularly held in locations around the city at weekends could also prove to be difficult for some to get to or from due to the rail strikes.

21, 23 and 25 June

Across each night of the planned strike action, illusionist Derren Brown is set to perform in Wolverhampton.

West Midlands Railway has regular services which connect Birmingham to Wolverhampton, but this looks set to be severely affected by the strike action.