The Tyne and Wear Metro has been completely closed due to today’s public sector pensions strike action.
Nexus has told Metro passengers that there will be no replacement bus services and Metro tickets will not be accepted on buses in the area.
Northern Ireland’s Translink network (train and bus) is also closed due to strikes as it Glasgow’s Subway, but National Rail and London Underground services in Britain are unaffected by the strikes.
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:
“RMT transport workers in the North East and our members on the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, the service that supplies the Royal Navy fleet around the world in times of both war and peace, are standing shoulder to shoulder with millions of other public service workers involved in the action today.
“We are sending the clearest message to the Government that we will defend our pensions to the hilt and the outrageous demand that our members should work longer, pay more and get less has been thrown back in the faces of this Government of millionaire public schoolboys.
“It’s the bankers and the bosses who have gambled with our country’s future and the men and women who make our services tick should not have to tolerate a worse pension, and be forced to work longer, to make up for their mistakes.
“RMT members on Tyne and Wear Metro and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary have shown that they are not going to sit back and take this outrageous attempt to consign them to a life of poverty in their old age.”
