Rail strikes could drag on until next summer
As RMT cripples network today, militant chief threatens even MORE walkouts
THe militant RMT union has threatened to carry on striking until next summer as another 24-hour walkout cripples the rail network today.
Mick Lynch, the boss of the hard-Left union, said he will seek another sixmonth mandate for walkouts when the current one expires towards the end of the year. It raises the prospect of strikes spilling into early next summer.
The union firebrand also refused to quell claims that walkouts lasting several days could start being called in a bid to strongarm rail bosses and ministers.
The RMT has so far called strikes on alter
nate days, with one 24-hour walkout taking place today and two in August. Workers also walked out on June 21, 23 and 25.
However, last night the RMT announced a new 24-hour strike on the London Underground on August 19. It dovetails with its national walkouts on August 18 and 20.
Asked if week-long walkouts were possible, Mr Lynch added: ‘We will look at our tactics as we go on. We’ll examine what’s most effective and how best to pursue our members’ interests.’
It came after a union source said: ‘We’re not doing two-week walkouts [at the moment] but we are fully prepared to do longer walkouts if we don’t get the deal we need.’
It comes after Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss vowed to stop militant unions from ‘ paralysing’ the economy.
Miss Truss wants to introduce legislation to ensure a minimum number of trains must run during strikes, mimicking measures in other european countries.
She also wants to raise the minimum threshold of support for strike action from 40 per cent of
eligible workers to 50 per cent. She has promised to double the notice period for industrial action to four weeks as well as stop members receiving tax-free payments from their unions on strike days.
Asked if it meant the ‘game was up’ for his union, Mr Lynch said: ‘If you make lawful industrial action illegal, which is what she seems to be trying to do, people will have to find other forms of action in which they can express themselves industrially. But we
will resist bringing in those laws.’ He also warned his union could take the Government to court, saying: ‘We’ll certainly look at our legal options.’
yesterday Miss Truss said it was ‘completely wrong’ that the travelling public was ‘being held ransom by militant unions’.
She said: ‘I am on the side of the travelling public who need to get into work to do their jobs. It is completely irresponsible of the trade unions to call these strikes
while we are seeking to get the economy going.’
network Rail fears the strikes will go on for months. A source compared it to the signallers’ strikes of 1994, which ended only when workers could no longer afford to continue their action.
The RMT has turned down an offer from network Rail of an 8 per cent pay rise for workers over this year and next, with cash bonuses of up to £900 for some staff.
Insiders say the deal would be
worth the equivalent of a 13 per cent pay increase for the lowestpaid workers over the two years.
Today’s walkout means vast swathes of rural england will be cut off from the rail network, with just one in five services operating overall for only 11 hours of the day between 7.30am and 6.30pm.
Disruption will continue into tomorrow, hitting fans going to the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Birmingham.