Unions issue threat of UK general strike as rail
crisis grows
Aslef members voted for action in August, while the
RMT chief, Mick Lynch, is calling for a general strike
Robert
Booth, Jessica Elgot and Emily Dugan
Wed 27 Jul
2022 19.18 BST
Unions
warned the UK could face a general strike this year as rail workers voted for
fresh action set to intensify a summer of industrial unrest.
The vote
for further transport strikes came as Keir Starmer sacked shadow transport
minister Sam Tarry who conducted broadcast interviews alongside striking RMT
workers at Euston station – a move that is likely to increase divisions between
Labour and trade unions.
Other
shadow ministers are expected to escape serious sanction but Tarry was told by
Labour whips he had broken collective responsibility by making statements about
pay and inflation that are not party policy.
Senior
shadow ministers have expressed private concern at Starmer’s policy not to
allow frontbenchers to join picket lines – saying it could become unsustainable
with unprecedented levels of industrial action in the offing.
As much of
Britain’s rail network ground to a halt, the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT)
union chief, Mick Lynch, called for a general strike in retaliation to
ministers’ threats to curb industrial action, warning of “the biggest
resistance mounted by the entire trade union movement”.
Travel was
disrupted for millions on Wednesday as some lines closed and only about one in
five trains ran on about half the network, as a fourth day of pickets this
summer affected the network in England, Scotland and Wales.
Aslef, the
train drivers’ union, announced it had an overwhelming mandate for further
industrial action which will involve drivers walking out at nine rail companies
in a dispute over pay.
A total of
974 drivers at CrossCountry and Avanti – 93% – voted in favour of a strike on
13 August, adding to actions already scheduled for that Saturday by drivers at
Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, LNER, London Overground,
Southeastern and West Midlands Trains.
“We’ve been
forced into this position by the companies, who say they have been driven to
this by the Tory government,” said Mick Whelan, Aslef general secretary. “We
want an increase in line with the cost of living – we want to be able to buy,
in 2022, what we could buy in 2021.”
Tarry, a
former officer of the TSSA trade union who helped run Jeremy Corbyn’s
leadership campaign, was removed from his post on Wednesday afternoon, though
sources described his actions as goading Starmer to sack him in order to help
him with a re-selection battle.
The
Guardian understands Tarry was told he was sacked for saying that it was “not
acceptable to offer below inflation pay rises” because it would be a real-terms
pay cut for workers.
Tarry was
told that Labour’s position was that it was for ministers and unions to
negotiate terms. That dispute is likely to cause significant alarm from trade
unions about Labour’s position, including those affiliated to the party.
On
Wednesday RMT members at Network Rail and 14 train operators walked out
alongside members of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) at
Avanti West Coast. Both unions are planning strikes on 18 and 20 August, while
the RMT announced a strike on London Underground on 19 August
Lynch also
said he would campaign for the Trades Union Congress to call a general strike
if Liz Truss became prime minister in September and pressed ahead with
anti-union plans.
Truss and
her rival Tory leadership candidate, Rishi Sunak, have said they will ban
strikes on essential public services like the railways, and Truss has said she
would legislate for minimum service levels on critical national infrastructure
in the first 30 days of government.
“It is
completely wrong that the travelling public are being held ransom by militant
unions,” Truss said on Tuesday. “I will take a tough line on trade union action
that is not helping people get on in life.”
Responding
to the comments, Lynch said: “The proposals by Liz Truss amount to the biggest
attack on trade union and civil rights since labour unions were legalised in
1871. Truss is proposing to make effective trade unionism illegal in Britain
and to rob working people of a key democratic right.
“If these
proposals become law, there will be the biggest resistance mounted by the
entire trade union movement, rivalling the general strike of 1926, the suffragettes
and Chartism.”
Asked if it
would call a general strike, the TUC stressed “every strike is a democratic
process”, but said: “It’s clear this Conservative government is not on the side
of working people.”
The RMT has
rejected a 8% pay offer spread over two years from Network Rail as “measly”,
saying that it is not close to current inflation. The offer is conditional on
changes to working practices, rules on redundancies and work-life balance, the
union said. The RMT opposes proposals to close ticket offices as more journeys
are booked online, amalgamate pay grades, and change pensions arrangements.
Andrew
Haines, the Network Rail chief executive, said: “Despite our best efforts to
find a breakthrough, I’m afraid there will be more disruption for passengers
this week as the RMT seems hellbent on continuing their political campaigning,
rather than compromising and agreeing a deal for their members.”
The
transport secretary, Grant Shapps, ruled out meeting unions to break the
deadlock, even if the situation escalated, saying he was “not the right person
to be in the room negotiating”.
Lynch said
the only way he could think of settling the current pay dispute beyond strikes
was “trial by combat”.
“I can’t
think of [another] way at the moment because we’ve been negotiating for two
years,” he said. “But it would be interesting if me and Grant Shapps went head
to head, if that’s not too flippant.”
Road
congestion levels were up in cities and rail passenger numbers were two-thirds
down on a normal Wednesday. But more people ventured on to the railways than on
23 June, the second day of the last round of strikes, Network Rail said,
suggesting the public may be adapting to the industrial action after four
strike days in quick succession.
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