Another three days of strike action are to take place next month after what has been described as a “dramatic U-turn” on a promised pay offer.
The RMT union has announced that three days of coordinated strike action will impact all those travelling across Britain’s rail networks in early November, after it says Network Rail bosses “reneged on their promises” of an improved pay offer.
The union also said Network Rail attempted to make “drastic changes” to the working practices of their staff, and sought to impose “job cuts, more unsocial hours, and detrimental rosters”.
The announcement of further strike action comes following what RMT called a period of “intense negotiations” with Network Rail, where it says there was an agreement made that the rail company would commit to an improved offer on pay and working towards a negotiated settlement – before the “dramatic U-turn” was taken.
According to RMT, Network Rail has now written directly to its staff to “undermine delicate talks” and has tried to “rehash a previous deal” that the union says it “categorically rejected”.
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Three more rail strike days set for November after ‘dramatic U-turn’ on pay offer / Credit: Network Rail
RMT called it “a crass attempt” to cut the union out of national negotiations.
Due to this breakdown in communications, RMT has now announced that strikes on Network Rail will now take place on 3, 5, and 7 November 2022 – with a number of significant rail operators set to be affected, including Northern.
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“The dishonesty of Network Rail bosses has reached a new low in this national rail dispute,” explained Mick Lynch – General Secretary at RMT.
“On the one hand, they were telling our negotiators that they were prepared to do a deal, while planning to torpedo negotiations by imposing unacceptable changes to our members terms and conditions [and] our members are livid with these duplicitous tactics.
“They will now respond in kind with sustained strike action.”
Featured Image – Network Rail
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Police warn criminals ‘don’t bother’ attending Parklife after already making arrest
Daisy Jackson
Greater Manchester Police have said that criminals shouldn’t ‘bother’ coming to Parklife festival this weekend, after already making an arrest at the festival site.
Officers have been carrying out searches of people arriving on site this week – and have already arrested a 24-year-old man.
A quantity of pills and a knife were both recovered from the man, who has been arrested on suspicion of possession of Class A drugs and possession of a bladed article.
After the arrest, Superintendent Phil Spurgeon issued a statement to criminals, saying ‘don’t bother coming to Parklife’.
He said: “We have a really robust police and partnership community safety operation for the festival, and the arrest and seizure yesterday demonstrates the vigilance of security staff, our thorough search procedures and our commitment to keeping people safe.
Parklife Festival, and (right) the suspected Class A drugs seized this week by police. Credit: GMP
“Make no mistake, illegal items such as weapons and drugs can have fatal consequences. Our top priority this weekend is keeping people safe, and anyone caught trying to take such items into the festival will be robustly dealt with.
“I hope the genuine festival-goers are excited for the fantastic weekend ahead and I am confident the majority will enjoy the event responsibly and safely.”
Greater Manchester Police and Parklife security staff will be working closely together to intercept anyone travelling to the festival with criminal intentions.
The arrest on 8 June was thanks to the festival’s drug detection dogs.
University of Manchester hit by cyber attack with ‘data likely copied’ by unauthorised party
Emily Sergeant
The University of Manchester (UoM) has confirmed that it has today become “the victim of a cyber incident”.
In a formal statement addressing the situation, the city‘s flagship further education institution says some of its systems have been accessed by an “unauthorised party” and that data has “likely been copied” as a result of this.
The University’s in-house experts are said to be “working around the clock” to resolve the issue.
External support teams are also said to be working in collaboration with the University to understand what data has been accessed.
Patrick Hackett – Registrar, Secretary, and Chief Operating Officer at the University of Manchester – explained in a statement issued this morning: “Regrettably, I have to share with you the news that the University is the victim of a cyber incident, [as] it has been confirmed that some of our systems have been accessed by an unauthorised party and data have likely been copied.
“Our in-house experts and established expert external support are working around the clock to resolve this incident, and we are working to understand what data has been accessed”.
— The University of Manchester (@OfficialUoM) June 9, 2023
Mr Hackett said he understands the nature of the issue will “cause concern to members of our community”, and says the University is “very sorry for this”.
The University says it is also working with relevant authorities – including the Information Commissioner’s Office, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the National Crime Agency, and other regulatory bodies – to resolve the issue, and will provide information to those affected as soon as they are able to.
Students and staff are also be told to be vigilant to any suspicious phishing emails within the coming days – with the University’s IT Services team having published some relevant advice to refer to.
Emily Sergeant -
19th October 2022 
