BETA filters Key events (2)Mick Lynch (3)RMT (3)Keir Starmer (2)BBC (2)Network Rail (2) Here are the latest photos from the cables: The nearly empty station platform during rush hour at London’s Euston railway station. Photo: Aaron Chown/PAStriking members of the RMT and TSSA unions join the picket line at Euston station. Photo: Guy Smallman/Getty Images Passengers at Waterloo train station in London as members of the Rail, Shipping and Transport Union (RMT) are taking part in a new strike over jobs, pay and conditions. Photo: James Manning/PARail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) General Secretary Mick Lynch (right) and Jeremy Corbyn outside London Euston railway station. Photo: Aaron Chown/PAA member of the Rail, Shipping and Transport (RMT) Union outside Waterloo train station. Photo: James Manning/PA Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said “passengers are being taken for a ride” by these “extreme hard-left unions”. Speaking on Radio 4’s Today, Shapps said there was an 8% deal over two years, adding that things were “going well” in the chamber, but it was rejected before it went to members. Shapps said there has not been a single day in three years that there has not been a strike or threatened strike with a strike ordered. Shapps said it shows “we’ve got the balance in the wrong place”. When asked why he would not negotiate directly with Mick Lynch, Shapps said: This is just a game by the unions, they play it in every industrial action…It’s just because the only people who can resolve these disputes are the employers and the unions.” Asked if he would pursue legislation to make it more difficult to strike, Shapps said “yes, and we’ve already started doing that”. Two changes have already been made to the law, Shapps said, such as the ability to bring in office staff from other areas of the railroad. Shadow Transport Secretary Sam Tarry joined striking workers on the picket line at Euston station, despite Keir Starmer’s orders to stay away, the PA reports. Tarry told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: If we don’t take a stand today, lives could be lost. Some of the lowest paid workers are on strike today in the rail industry, workers who are critical to safety, workers who make sure our railroads get people to work and do it safely. “It can no longer be accepted that people just have to accept that inflation is out of control. The government is doing nothing about the cost of living crisis.” He added that if Starmer were in government at the moment, the row would not be happening. “I have absolutely 100% confidence that any Labor MP would be in favor of striking workers who have given up a day’s wages, a week’s wages or even more,” Tarry added. Asked by BBC Breakfast if Keir Starmer should be there, Tarry said: I think any Labor MP or member, the half a million of us across the country, will be in complete solidarity with the striking doctors. Whether they’re doctors, or teachers, or postal people, because what people in this country are sick of is 10 years of austerity followed by rampant inflation.
Mick Lynch: There was no offer that was ‘ever accepted by us’
The RMT union leader said there was no deal that was “ever acceptable to us”. When asked by the BBC’s flagship morning news programme, Radio 4’s Today, if any deal had been made that he had objected to, RMT union leader Mick Lynch said “no, that’s just propaganda plain and simple”. Lynch said they gave the deal to our members at mass meetings of their representatives across the country. Lynch said the proposals they currently have are unacceptable and said the decision was not in the hands of a secret body, but in the hands of “the ordinary men and women who make up our union” who are striking today. “It’s very difficult to be a union in this country, it feels quite oppressive,” Lynch added. “It’s not about power, it’s about jobs, conditions, pay and pensions.” When asked if they were getting the support they should from the Labor Party, Lynch said Keir Starmer needed to be in tune with where working class people are “because they are being wiped out in this society at the moment”. Lynch called on Starmer to come up with a bill of rights and a set of jobs laws that “bring balance to our society and rebalance our economy.” Updated at 08.24 BST Speaking to the BBC’s flagship morning news programme, Radio 4’s Today, the Network Rail chief executive said he believed RMT negotiators were being rejected by those at the top of the union and the deal should be put to members. Andrew Haines said: We think we were making good progress and this has happened twice now, when negotiators go back to talk to RMT executive, suddenly the tone changes and we end up with more strikes.
Strike action begins
Good morning. The railways will stop again on Wednesday as workers strike over wages, job security and working conditions. More than 40,000 Network Rail workers, 14 train companies and members of the Rail, Shipping and Transport (RMT) union are taking part in the strikes. Transports for London services will be affected by the disruption as it uses sections of the line under Network Rail’s jurisdiction. There will also be a stand by members of the Private Transport Salaried Association (TSSA), who work for Avanti West Coast. “Network Rail has not improved on its previous pay offer and the train companies have not offered us anything new,” RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said. “The Government must stop its involvement in this dispute so that the rail employers can reach an agreement by negotiating with us.” Today’s strike came after union leaders rejected an “insignificant” offer of a 4% pay rise for the rest of 2022 from Network Rail and a possible 4% next year if workers accept changes to working conditions. After the strike was announced, Network Rail accused the union of “walking away” from talks and said the action could have been avoided. “It is now clear that their political campaigning takes precedence over representing the interests of their members,” said Tim Shoveller, Network Rail’s chief negotiator. Read more here:
