Britain faces its biggest rail strikes in 30 years on Tuesday after last-minute talks failed amid claims by the rail workers’ union that Boris Johnson’s government is blocking a deal that could avert the stoppage. More than 50,000 rail workers will strike on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and Mick Lynch, leader of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union (RMT), said the action would continue as long as necessary.
“It is clear that the Tory government, after slashing £4 billion of funding from National Rail and Transport for London, has now actively prevented a settlement to this dispute,” he said. “The rail companies have now proposed pay rates that are massively under the relevant rates of inflation, coming on top of the pay freezes of the past few years. At the behest of the government companies are also seeking to implement thousands of job cuts and have failed to give any guarantee against compulsory redundancies.”
Mr Lynch said Network Rail and 13 train operators had offered pay increases far below the rate of inflation and are proposing job cuts that will make it impossible to provide a good service. The rail companies confirmed last week that they want to close every railway station ticket office in the country as the government cuts funding.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps has rejected Labour calls to get involved in the negotiations, and he blamed the RMT for the disruption the strikes will cause. Speaking in the House of Commons, he said rail workers should know that the railways were in a fight for their lives “against Teams, Zoom” and other forms of remote working.
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“The union bosses have got you striking under false pretenses. Rather than protecting your jobs, they are actually endangering them and the railways’ future,” he said.
“We have a platform for change...to bring a much brighter future to our railways. And that means building an agile, flexible workforce, not one that strikes every time someone suggests an improvement to our railway. Strikes should be the last resort, not the first resort.”
With inflation heading towards 10 per cent, the government fears that a wave of pay demands will push prices higher and strain the public finances. Criminal barristers voted this week to strike from next week in protest against low pay for legal aid cases and the two biggest teachers’ unions said they would ballot members for strike action unless they received a pay rise to match inflation.
NHS doctors and nurses could also strike if they are asked to take a real-terms pay cut in the form of an increase below the rate of inflation.
Labour shortages, combined with inflation, trade friction following Brexit and supply-chain problems are pushing Britain towards recession as economic growth lags behind the EU.
Mr Johnson underwent a minor operation on his sinuses under general anaesthetic on Monday morning, and handed decision-making powers to deputy prime minister Dominic Raab for 24 hours.
Downing Street confirmed that it had intervened on Friday night after The Times published a story saying that when Mr Johnson was foreign secretary he tried to have his future wife Carrie appointed to a £100,000-a-year job as his chief-of-staff. The story was removed from later editions of the paper and from its website but The Times has not published a correction or said why it took the story down.
