The unions cannot grab back power like the 1970s

The results of the strike ballot by rail workers could trigger a new generation of mass walkouts – but militant leaders must be defeated

It was the result that ministers and train bosses feared: the threat of industrial action that could ultimately determine the future direction and stability of this country. Late last night, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) announced that an overwhelming majority of 40,000 rail staff had voted in favour of national strike action in the coming weeks.

From the 71pc of those who took part, 89pc voted in favour of strike action and only 11pc voted against it, the RMT said.

A mass walkout on the railways is expected to unleash untold economic damage, shamelessly compounding the hardship that millions of families are already experiencing.

But it has serious ramifications too for the future of industrial relations. If the RMT goes ahead with threat of a walkout next month there is a very real risk that the trade union movement reasserts its grip on Britain, in a throwback to the ruinous 1970s when militant bosses repeatedly brought it to a standstill.

Therefore, it is vital that the Government doesn’t allow itself to be intimidated. If ministers back down it will set a dangerous precedent. Trade union leaders will be emboldened by anything that looks like victory, paving the way for a flurry of similar mass walkouts just as the country plunges into recession.

The RMT’S demands are pretty outrageous. Unions want a pay rise in line with the RPI rate of inflation – currently 11.1pc – which isn’t even the real rate of inflation. Even then, there can’t be many people that have received a pay rise generous enough to cancel out the current price rise spiral that is making everyone much poorer.

As ministers rightly point out, rail workers have already enjoyed pay rises above other vital public services such as teachers, nurses, police officers and firefighters. A rail network is an essential component of a properly functioning economy but are those employed on it any more important than these public sector workers?

Of course not, and they can hardly claim to be on the bread line. Average pay for a train driver is £59,000 a year, nearly twice that of nurses, and double the minimum wage, while a four-day week is the norm. Experienced drivers can earn as much as £65,000 and, at Great Western, a salary of up to £81,000 is reportedly possible. The typical retirement age is 62, compared to a national average of 65, and retirees leave with a full pension of £40,000 on top of a generous lump sum. Staff argue that many RMT members are not train drivers – they’re station attendants, guards, track workers, and maintenance crew, all of whom earn significantly less. It’s a fair point but does that justify such excessive demands or striking at a time like this? The whole country would love a big pay rise but no other occupation is threatening nationwide walkouts that will cause massive disruption to people’s lives and economic pain at a time of such upheaval.

Unions also say the planned strikes aren’t just about pay but proposed job losses: 2,500 redundancies by Network Rail on mainline services that they claim jeopardise safety; and 600 posts by Transport for London on the London Underground.

But Network Rail insiders dismiss such claims as absurd, pointing out that the industry simply wants to modernise maintenance practices to bring it into line with the aviation sector, one of the safest in the country. TFL disputes that any jobs will be lost at all. Instead, the cuts will come through not replacing staff who have left or were going to retire anyway, it says.

Moreover, this is an industry that wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for a state-funded emergency bailout during the pandemic – £16bn of taxpayer money just to keep the trains running even though most were practically empty for a good chunk of the time. Without that government intervention, job losses would have been in the tens of thousands.

But there is a strong sense that none of this is really about pay and conditions. If it was, then the unions wouldn’t be prepared to inflict so much pain and misery on ordinary people during a time of already great strain. If RMT chiefs win support for summer walkouts they have been told that the country faces power blackouts, petrol shortages, empty supermarket shelves and widespread chaos on passenger services.

Their actions are entirely disproportionate and yet there is no sign of them pulling back, in which case government threats to introduce laws requiring minimum numbers of rail staff to work during a strike seem entirely fair if that is the only way to prevent people’s livelihoods from coming under attack. As for the boast by one union boss of a “summer of discontent” resulting from what could be the biggest walkout since the 1926 General Strike, it sounds like some are relishing the disorder. The decision of RMT to inflict strikes on the Tube network over the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend is telling.

It is a deeply cynical move, and accusations that the entire stunt is politically motivated seem perfectly fair given the far-left views of many in the union movement. Bosses say the strike is to “shine a spotlight” on their grievances, but they could do that on any other day of the year without disrupting a unique moment in this country’s modern history and jeopardising a chance to unite the nation at a difficult time for millions.

The unions have a duty to pull back and negotiate reasonably, otherwise the Government must do all it can to prevent an act of national sabotage that risks setting Britain back decades.

‘Average pay for a train driver is £59,000 a year – nearly twice that of nurses’