The union leaders behind next week’s disruptive rail strikes have disclosed that they are seeking for wage increases of at least 7% for workers – and that rail employers must make an acceptable offer within 48 hours if they want to avoid the walk-out.
Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union (RMT), stressed today that any wage deal be linked to the Retail Price Index (RPI), which measures the rate of inflation on goods and services.
In April, the inflation rate was 11.1 percent. However, Mr Lynch today hinted that union leaders were pushing for a compensation settlement tied to negotiations in December, when the unemployment rate was 7.1%. He stated that the union had rejected a Network Rail offer of a 2% raise with a further 1% increase tied to job cuts.
Last night’s eleventh-hour efforts to settle the matter fell apart. Today, governments called the union’s strike a “massive act of self-harm” on the future of the UK rail business, which has seen a sharp decline in customers since the Covid outbreak. They also accused hardline union barons of ‘firing’ the ‘disastrous’ strike.
‘At the time of the Network Rail pay contract, which should have been done in December, it was 7.1 percent, the Retail Price Index,’ Mr Lynch told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge.
‘That’s what the cost of living would have been at the time these deals should have been done, so we’ll bargain to see if we can obtain a contract that reflects that cost of life.’
‘There are a variety of methods to provide value to a bundle; it’s not just about pay.’ So we’ll talk to them constructively, but their offers aren’t even close.
‘And for half of those involved in this disagreement, there is no offer at all, and for many of them, this is the third year with no offer and no proposition.’
He also alleged that railway managers were aiming to prolong the 35-hour week for new workers, resulting in lower pay packages, and that his union needed assurances that no compulsory redundancies would occur as a result of future employment cuts.
It comes as RMT workers prepare to strike next week, causing rail chaos for millions of Britons. On Tuesday, Thursday, and next Saturday, 13 train operators and Network Rail will go on strike. On Tuesday, there will also be a London Underground strike.
Rail travellers have been asked not to travel by train during next week’s strike action, with some operators even warning commuters of severe disruption to schedules on non-strike days next week as a result of the knock-on impact. As a result of the strikes, a number of events have been canceled.
Last night, it was announced that talks between unions and Network Rail, train operators, and London Underground had failed, thereby putting an end to hopes of an 11th-hour compromise to halt the strikes.
Mr Lynch stated that train companies had gone ‘radio silent’ with unions, but that conversations with Network Rail were still underway.
Today, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps warned the strike will be “disastrous” for passengers and “inconvenient for millions of people.” He also slammed union barons, saying they were “gunning for a strike,” and said the RMT were “endangering the survival of the railway itself” by opposing’modernisation.”
During a round of TV appearances this morning, Mr Lynch did not appear to back away. He claimed that rising inflation was robbing employees of their salaries.
In a move that will worry ministers even more, he did not rule out rail strikes beyond this month’s planned action. He also cautioned that other industries would follow in his union’s footsteps and organize their own strike.
‘I think there will be numerous unions balloting around the country, because people can’t take it anymore,’ Mr Lynch said on Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday.
‘We have people working full-time who have to rely on government assistance and food banks.’ That is a national shambles.’
Mr Lynch, on the other hand, emphasized that the RMT did not “want to be the source of interruption in people’s lives.”
‘We want a resolution to this conflict,’ he said. However, we are in the midst of a crisis for our people. Despite what Grant Shapps claims, we are facing thousands of job cuts, and there is no certainty that these redundancies will not be forced.
‘We’ve seen four or five thousands jobs already go from the railway. They’ve told our maintenance staff on Network Rail that three thousand jobs will go.
‘They’re going to cut back on the safety regime, they’ve told us that every single booking office in Britain will close.
‘They’ve told us that they’re going to extend the working week from 35 hours to 40, or possibly 44.
‘And for new entrants that will mean lower wages. So they’re actually proposing pay cuts, not a pay rise, and an increase in working time on the railway.’
The RMT general secretary insisted his union was ‘not asking for special treatment’.
‘We’ve had pay cuts – most of our members have not had a pay rise for two to three years. I’m talking about actual pay cuts, the reduction of salaries, as well as the losses against the rate of inflation.’
He later told LBC that workers must be offered an acceptable settlement within the next 48 hours.
He said: ‘We’ve got a threat to jobs, we want a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies. We’ve got the threat to working conditions, which is a really important part of this dispute. Terms and conditions and working practices are threatened with being shredded.
‘We’ve got the pay issue which is ongoing now, most of our members haven’t had a pay rise for two or three years and that includes Network Rail and all other train companies.’
Asked if the strike could be called off still, he said: ‘There is a way it can be called off. We’ve got 48 hours, we can get round the table. Deals have been done in that time.’
It comes as Mr Shapps today warned next week’s strike would be ‘disastrous’ for the rail industry.
He told Sky News: ‘It is a huge mistake. The unions have been gunning for this strike throughout. This strike is completely unnecessary.
‘It is going to inconvenience millions of people – students doing their GCSEs and A-levels, people trying to get to hospitals to try get operations that have been postponed, perhaps, during coronavirus.
‘It is disastrous. It is no way to behave on the railway. There is no advantage to this. I know Mick Lynch says he is ‘nostalgic for union power’ but this is no way to behave.’
The Transport Secretary also dismissed calls from the RMT for the Government to step in to resolve the rail dispute as a ‘stunt’.
‘The trade unions know that only the trade union and the employer can settle this,’ he said.
‘I will not cut across that. I will not undermine the employer’s works.
‘This is a stunt at the 11th hour by the union, suddenly coming forward and saying ‘We need to negotiate with the Government now’ even though this last month they told me they wouldn’t be seen dead negotiating with the Government.’
In a warning about the impact of industrial action on the future of Britain’s rail network, Mr Shapps added: ‘Of course, it is a reality that if we can’t get these railways modernised, if we can’t get the kind of efficiency that will mean that they can work on behalf of the travelling public, then of course it is jeopardising the future of the railway itself.
‘I think it is a huge act of self-harm to go on strike at the moment. I don’t believe the workers are anywhere as militant as their unions who are leading them up the garden path. They are gunning for this strike. It is completely unnecessary.’
It comes as Mr Lynch yesterday revealed nationwide travel chaos could drag on well into 2023 – as he compared himself to Thatcher’s foil Arthur Scargill and said he’s ‘nostalgic’ for the era of the Miners’ Strike.
On Saturday afternoon, Lynch delivered a heated speech to union members in Parliament Square, declaring “class war” and accusing his opponents of attempting to “butcher the working class.”
RMT members are able to participate in walkouts until November after voting in favor of strike action last month.
Extending the six-month deadline would result in widespread transport mayhem lasting until 2023. Lynch has stated that he is more than willing to do so.
‘We will extend the mandates until we find a resolution to the concerns in the dispute,’ he told the Financial Times.
‘Until there is a resolution, there will be a strike campaign, and other unions will join us…’ I believe there will be further strikes.’
Lynch also disclosed in a second interview this weekend that he had modeled his approach after Arthur Scargill.
According to The Sun, he stated, “I’m nostalgic for the power that we had, and even more nostalgic for the control and ideals that we had.”
‘People talk about the Winter of Discontent and the excesses of the trade union movement as it was characterized and described,’ Lynch continued. They had excellent justification for this because they had strong labor unions.
‘I miss the equilibrium we were achieving.’ In the 1970s, I believe society was rebalancing.’
The RMT boss’s salary and benefits package is worth just under £125,000.
Earlier on Saturday, at a protest attended by the party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, Lynch encouraged Labour MPs to “stand up and fight with us.”
More than 40,000 RMT members will hold 24-hour walkouts on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday in protest of potential job cuts and their demand for pay increases that keep pace with inflation.
Only one in every five trains will run on the three strike days, although services will be severely interrupted throughout the week.
On Tuesday, the number of trains from London to Glasgow will be reduced from 17 to four, with the last leaving at 1.30pm.
The number of flights from London to Birmingham will be reduced from 82 to eight, while the number of flights between Manchester and Leeds will be reduced from eight to one.
Network Rail and RMT negotiators will hold last-ditch negotiations today, but all prospect of a breakthrough appears to have disappeared following Lynch’s statement at the Trades Union Congress (TUC)-organized We Demand Better march in Central London.
On a stage in Parliament Square, he declared, ‘There has been no compromise offered to us, and the message is clear: we are now in a class battle.’
‘Are you going to be with us or are you going to sit on the sidelines as these Tories butcher the working class all throughout this country?’ he asked, challenging Labour MPs to support the national strike. ‘Either fight with us or get out of the way.’
Working folks are on our side. We are the country’s working class. We are unstoppable as a group. Get up and fight, or live your life on your knees.
‘The struggle continues. Let it rip. This is our final battle. Take a stand and fight. The RMT has won!’
Network Rail bosses were outraged by the fiery speech, describing bargaining with the far-left union as “working with people stuck in the 1980s.”
‘The prospects of finding a way through this are poor,’ said one senior Network Rail insider. The rhetoric I’ve heard from Mick and the RMT hasn’t exactly filled us with hope.’
Lynch’s tirade will increase pressure on Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to condemn the strike unequivocally.
Angela Rayner, his deputy, joined the march yesterday, dressed in an animal print jumpsuit, along with fellow Opposition frontbencher Wes Streeting.
Ms Rayner later posted a’selfie’ with TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady, captioning it, ‘Proud to march together.’
Demonstrators held posters with messages such as ‘If our salary doesn’t rise, we will’ and ‘wages up, bills down, Tories out.’ At least one was flying a Soviet flag.
Despite Lynch’s assertion that no agreement was on the table, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the RMT rejected a salary offer from Network Rail last week worth possibly more than 3% – the same as nurses and other NHS staff are set to be awarded.
Network Rail negotiators proposed a 2% raise for signallers and maintenance workers, plus an additional 1% if productivity targets are met.
A financial bonus was also promised if working practices were improved, but it was promptly rejected.
‘There was disappointment that it didn’t land as well as we had planned,’ said a Network Rail insider.
‘That would be a reasonable reward of hard work for a lot of other public employees, but we recognize that the RMT wants more – and we want more in terms of our ability to modernize the railway for the future.’
If some further concessions can be made there, there may yet be room for a deal.’
The strike will also disrupt travel to a number of high-profile events during one of the busiest weeks of the summer, causing massive traffic jams as millions take to the highways to get to work.
‘The train strikes will put a lot more pressure on the road network,’ said Simon Williams of the RAC. People will have to get up early in order to beat the traffic.’
Picket lines are likely to form outside rail facilities and stations around the UK, including at London’s King’s Cross, Euston, and Liverpool Street stations, amid fears that those who agree to work would be intimidated.
According to the Mail on Sunday, British Transport Police and private security firms have been placed on standby in case of violence.
Meanwhile, parents have expressed their displeasure as tens of thousands of GCSE and A-level pupils risk exam interruption. This week, seventeen GCSE exams will be held across the country, as well as A-level exams in English, math, and science.
Mother-of-five Caroline Farrow, a writer and advocate, slammed the RMT on Twitter, writing, ‘There are no words for the disdain many parents, students, and schools hold you in, for striking on A-level days.’
Becky Barnham claimed her 16-year-old daughter had to take two trains to get to school in Cheam, South West London, where she is taking GCSE chemistry and physics exams.
‘Because of the uncertainty, we’re considering reserving an Airbnb near her school,’ Ms Barnham added.
Robyn Haque’s 15-year-old daughter, who is studying for her GCSEs, endured a two-hour travel between her East London home and her school in South West London earlier this month due to an RMT Underground strike.
‘Pupils have had a really stressful last two years, and dealing with this strike on top of that is simply adding to the stress,’ she said.
At the heart of the issue is demand to limit in the railways’ increasing costs, while passenger numbers remain roughly 75% of pre-Covid levels.
Since the outbreak, the government has invested more than £16 billion in the network, the equivalent of more than £600 per home.