Militant union boss threatens a decade of rail strike chaos
... but Corbyn doesn’t mind going to their Xmas party!
MILITANT union bosses have privately threatened to orchestrate a decade of strike chaos on Britain’s railways, the Transport Secretary revealed yesterday.
On the eve of a walkout that will bring mayhem to Southern rail routes today, Chris Grayling revealed the extraordinary threats made by one of the bosses behind the action.
In an open letter to MPs, Mr Grayling said that soon after he was appointed by Theresa May in the summer he held a meeting with Mick Whelan, the £128,000-a-year head of drivers’ union Aslef.
‘When I met the general secretary of Aslef, with virtually his first breath he promised me “ten years of industrial action”,’ Mr Grayling said. And he accused union officials of being ‘hell-bent on fomenting’ the dispute over driver-only trains.
Last night Southern warned commuters that it ‘strongly advised’ that they should not even try to travel on its routes for most of the rest of the week.
Southern’s parent company, Govia Thameslink (GTR), had tried to stop the action yesterday but lost an Appeal Court bid to halt strikes by drivers.
It means that around 300,000 passengers who commute on Southern every day will now have to work from home, take time off, or attempt to drive because of the huge disruption the walkout today, Wednesday and Friday will cause.
All 2,100 daily services on Southern – including the commuter route between Brighton and London – will be cancelled with more than 900 drivers not turning up for work.
Around half of services on Gatwick Express – which is also part of the Southern franchise – will also be cancelled.
With no bus replacement services on offer, many commuters who pay more than £4,000 for an annual season ticket will be unable to get to work. The AA warned of gridlock on many roads across the South East, as commuters travel into work by car or taxi.
Today’s walkout by train drivers centres on the introduction of driver-only trains – whereby drivers instead of the guards are responsible for opening and closing the train doors. Aslef and the RMT, which represents conductors, say they pose a threat to passenger safety.
But these fears have been dismissed by independent rail safety watchdogs, with driver- only trains already operating across the country. The RMT has also organised walkouts either side of Christmas on Southern in protest at the same issue.
Furious MPs, campaigners and commuters have lambasted both the unions and GTR’s bosses. GTR chief executive Charles Horton said: ‘Regrettably, there will be no train services for passengers tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday. We strongly advise people not to travel.
‘In addition, there will be severe disruption every day during the ongoing industrial action because of the union’s overtime ban’
Mr Grayling said the attitude of the unions had persuaded him that it was better for him to stay out of the dispute. But he also claimed that union bosses had snubbed his invitation last week to meet for talks and that Southern had offered fresh talks at the conciliation service Acas on Sunday, but that Aslef ‘didn’t turn up’.
Downing Street also waded into the row, with the Prime Minister’s spokesman saying: ‘It is an unnecessary strike that will cause major disruption.’ But the strike has received the backing of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has led calls to re-nationalise the railways.
Aslef general secretary Mr Whelan said: ‘Chris Grayling says this strike is political. It isn’t. It’s industrial. Passengers want a guard on every train because they know that driver only trains are inherently unsafe.’