UK Train Workers to Stage Fresh Strike in January over Pay

The union said the strike action would bring "services on affected lines to a halt". More widespread walkouts have been announced by other sectors over demands for better pay amid soaring inflation and cost of living, Yahoo News reported.

The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) union has previously carried out five one-day strikes this year and say they now have "a mandate for industrial action for the next six months".

"The way to stop this is for the companies to make a serious and sensible offer and for the government not to put a spoke in the wheels," ASLEF said in a statement.

The companies affected by the latest action include Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, Greater Anglia, GTR Great Northern Thameslink, London North Eastern Railway, Northern Trains, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, SWR Island Line, TransPennine Express, West Midlands Trains and depot drivers on South Western Railway.

Rail workers in Britain have staged several strikes this year, including the country's biggest strike in decades during the summer, pressing demands for better pay amid the simmering cost-of-living crisis.

So far, the workers' demands for a pay increase has been rejected by government, which says it cannot afford high increases that match the soaring inflation, and even if it could, such monetary increases would further fuel inflation.

The cost-of-living crisis has engulfed not only Britain but the entirety of Europe, with workers going on strike every now and then across the continent, disrupting people's livelihoods, especially during holidays.

Economists link the soaring living costs in Europe to the COVID-19 pandemic and the raging Ukraine war, which has partially affected all countries' economies across the world.