Lynch lines up Christmas rail strikes despite ‘positive talks’
FIREBRAND union boss Mick Lynch said that he is pushing ahead with Christmas rail strikes despite “positive” talks with the Government.
The RMT general secretary is threatening a series of 48-hour walkouts that will bring the network to a halt.
He said Transport Secretary Mark Harper had agreed to help find a resolution to the dispute with train bosses.
Mr Lynch said there had been none of the “bellicose nonsense” that had come from Mr Harper’s predecessor Grant Shapps – but the union was “no closer” to calling off the strikes.
Mr Harper called the talks “constructive”, adding: “We have common ground. We both want the dispute to end and want a thriving railway which delivers for passengers and workers.
“To achieve this though, we need to work together across the entire industry. There is a deal to be done and I believe we will get there.
“I want to facilitate the RMT and the employers to reach an agreement and end the dispute for the benefit of the travelling public.”
Mr Harper urged union members and employers to address the long dispute over pay, jobs and conditions and pushed them to “hammer out” reforms to deliver a better service.
But Mr Lynch insisted the Cabinet minister has a “direct say” over what the rail firms can offer RMT members.
“We’re now starting to get a dialogue,” he said. “What we’re chiefly asking him to do... you’ve heard him say that he’s going to be a facilitator towards a settlement or a resolution.
“We’ve said to him that there’s no good having these warm words, we’ve heard them from his predecessor Anne-Marie Trevelyan but nothing actually happened.
‘So, we want him to set down in writing what he’s going to do about the mechanics of how a resolution will be facilitated.” The moves came as other strikers picketed schools, universities and Royal Mail centres.
Union leaders claimed the walkouts were solidly supported by the public.
The Communication Workers Union accused Royal Mail bosses of subjecting staff to a “psychological attack” over their working conditions.
Members are pressing ahead with a series of strikes in the coming weeks, including today and Christmas Eve.
Around 70,000 members of the University and College Union walked out in a dispute over pay, pensions and contracts.
Some pupils stayed at home as teachers across Scotland stopped work in their first national pay strike in almost 40 years.