Rail strike on 13 May, day of Eurovision final

Rail workers are to strike next month after the RMT union rejected the latest pay deal from train operators.

RMT members will strike on 13 May, the day of the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool.

Train operators said they had been “blindsided” by the strike, and denied union claims they had changed their offer.

It follows train drivers’ union Aslef calling strikes on 12 and 31 May, and on 3 June, the day of the FA Cup Final.

The offer by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents train firms, was aimed at ending the long-running dispute.

But the RMT union said accepting it would mean no further strike action could take place further down the line.

There had been ongoing discussions as the union and train firms tried to reach a deal.

Mick Lynch, RMT general secretary, said the (RDG), which represents the train companies, had “reneged on their original proposals and torpedoed these negotiations”.

But Steve Montgomery, chair of the RDG Group said the union was “negotiating in bad faith, again denying their members a say on a fair pay deal, needlessly disrupting the lives of millions of our passengers, and undermining the viability of an industry critical to Britain’s economy”.

Workers at 14 train operators will now go on strike for 24 hours on 13 May.