Keeping pay down? That’s a bit rich!
THE right to withdraw labour is the very last resort workers have when negotiating for decent pay and fair terms of employment. This right is enshrined in employment law.
To hear some of the media coverage of the rail workers’ strike you would think workers strike at the drop of a hat and want to destroy their industry.
This is not the case. Strikes are rare. Members of the union are balloted. They have to meet a 50% threshold before they can call a strike.
This is a much greater percentage than any party has achieved since 1951 to form a government.
This shows just how frustrated workers are with their employers when they do strike.
The RMT union is not just striking about pay, it is about securing jobs for the future and maintaining safety levels for staff and passengers alike.
Closing ticket offices and checking the railway lines using drones will only see further deterioration in a failing service.
Much has been said about not being able to afford public sector wage demands but little about how the private companies running the railways are making vast profits.
Ministers are telling the public we need to ride the storm of the cost of living crisis and not make demands.
However this does not apply to big business whose profits have increased by 73% compared to 2019.
Teachers, nurses, postal workers, even barristers, are threatening to walk out.
They know keeping pay down to control inflation is not what is happening.
It is more about shoring up profits for the richest.
COUN CATH DAVIS, Preston Ward, North Tyneside Council