Research has uncovered the true strain put on SME business owners, resulting from the slew of rail strikes in the UK.
Across December 2022 and January 2023, National Rail staff took to the streets in protest against poor working conditions and increasingly precarious job security.
A survey of over 600 small business owners has revealed that 14% of respondents believe that the rail strikes had negatively affected their business.
Moreover, nearly 40% of business owners reported that uncertainty – caused by the strikes – have made it much harder to plan for the future, whereas over 20% of respondents reported lower levels of customer footfall – and thus sales – on strike days.
The effects of the strikes have been particularly pronounced for the retail and hospitality sectors.
These industries have been most acutely affected by staff not being able to commute into work and low levels of in-person business activity.
What Caused the Train Strikes in the UK?
Spearheaded by the trade unions RMT (led my Mick Lynch) and Aslef (led by Mick Whelan), National Rail employees have been locked in a long-term dispute with the government.
Amongst their points of contention, the trade unions have been pushing for:
- Better salaries for train drivers
- Pay rises that reflect the real cost of living, given high levels of inflation
- Plans for staff cuts to be put on hold and reversed
- Changes of employment terms and conditions to be pre-approved by the unions
The Impact of Rail Strikes on Small Businesses
Alan Thomas, the UK CEO at Simply Business – the organisation that commissioned the research study – discussed the fallout from the strikes, saying: “Ongoing disruption to the rail network is now affecting small businesses’ supply chains, the ability for their employees to get to work, and, most essentially, causing a lul in customers as footfall decreases.
“Businesses in the hospitality sector will be particularly hard hit as the 44% of people using rail for shopping and leisure will be significantly reduced on strike days.
“The UK’s self-employed are feeling the pressure more than most as they are not afforded the same financial cushioning of larger franchises, and giving people the means to make journeys which allow them to enjoy the unique offering of small businesses up and down the country is essential to the survival of our SMEs.”
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