RMT is planning ‘Extinction Rebellion style’ strike action that will cause summer travel chaos in a row over jobs and pay – as a senior figure says union is preparing for ‘civil disobedience’.
The rail union is balloting more than 40,000 of its members over considerations to bring 15 train services including Govia Thameslink Railway, Avanti West Coast, and West Midlands Trains to a grinding halt.
RMT has blamed Network Rail’s planned cut of at least 2,500 safety-critical maintenance jobs as part of a £2 billion of savings on the network – changes that bosses say will lead to ‘trains flying off the tracks’.
It has also taken aim at train operators looking to freeze pay to combat the lowest passenger numbers in over 150 years.
Now the union’s assistant secretary general Eddie Dempsey has revealed that, in addition to potential strike action, members are also considering civil disobedience, The Telegraph reports.
Micky Lynch, RMT general secretary, has warned that its members are ‘extremely motivated’ to deliver a ‘huge yes vote’ when the ballot closes on May 24 – leading to potential action as soon as June.
And Government sources have warned that union officials could adopt Extinction Rebellion style tactics of blocking the railway system.
A source told The Telegraph: ‘The mind boggles at the RMT turning themselves into Extinction Rebellion and gluing themselves to the tracks – could anything be more counter-productive?
‘With the railway on life support, it should worry all rail workers that their union leaders are spoiling for a confrontation before there have even been any substantive talks.’
Mr Dempsey was last month accused of harbouring long-standing sympathies for pro-Putin separatists.
He shared glowing praise for Luhansk rebel Aleksey Mozgovoy in an obituary following his death in 2015, while Mr Dempsey even visited the Donbas region of Ukraine seven years ago – where he posed for a picture with the pro-Russian separatist commander.
Mr Dempsey is understood to be on a package worth £108,549 as part of his RMT role. It breaks down to £78,282 of gross salary, Employers’ NI contributions of £9,978 with pension contributions of £20,289.
In March’s issue of RMT News, he wrote: ‘The union is looking at industrial action and even civil disobedience if we have to in order to alert the membership and the general public about the effects of the cuts coming down the line.
‘If this continues then we must declare ourselves in dispute in order to defend our industry, defend our terms and conditions, defend our pensions and defend jobs.’
And in an address to a meeting of the Communication Workers Union’s annual conference on Monday, Mr Dempsey added: ‘We are going to try to create a culture of civil peaceful disobedience in this country.
‘We’ve got to get out there with industrial strategies to make sure every depot, every workplace, is a fortress for the trade union movement and people are ready to come out and defend their rights.’
With further travel chaos in the summer looming, Tim Shoveller, Network Rail’s regional director, said the operator ‘cannot keep relying on Government handouts’.
He continued: ‘Our railway has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, and even as passenger numbers start to recover, we know travel habits and passenger demand have changed and the industry has to change too.
‘We cannot keep relying on Government handouts, and so we must work together with train operators and our trades unions to save millions of pounds and deliver a more efficient railway.
‘Our modernisation programme aims to build a sustainable future that delivers for passengers and creates better and safer jobs for our people.
‘We are disappointed that the RMT has taken this decision and urge them again to work with us, not against us, as we build an affordable railway fit for the future.’
Mr Shoveller added: ‘We would not consider any changes that would make the railway less safe.’
But RMT general secretary Mr Lynch yesterday accused the Government of ‘throwing political petrol on the fire’ regarding the dispute.
He added: ‘The changes they seek to impose on railway workers would not be acceptable to any trade union worth their salt and they represent a fundamental danger to passenger safety.’
An RMT spokesman continued: ‘RMT has at no time suggested its members will glue themselves to any railway tracks during this dispute with Network Rail and the train operating companies.
‘Rather than trying to mount anonymous scare stories in the media with no evidence, the Government would be better placed halting their mad-hatter cuts programme they want to unleash on the railways, endangering public safety and destroying railway workers’ livelihoods.
‘The RMT is focused on beating the most draconian anti-trade union laws in any western European country, in order to take lawful industrial action in June, so we can stop 2,500 safety-critical maintenance jobs being lost and protect rail passenger safety on the network.’