Disruption continues to be felt after yesterday’s strike
(Picture: PA)A Cabinet minister vowed on Wednesday that “militant” strikes by rail unions would not win pay demands of at least seven per cent as it would plunge Britain into a “vicious” cycle of spiralling inflation.
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab stressed that such soaring price rises would hit the lowest paid in the country hardest.
The Government’s stance appeared to be undermined by the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association saying it had agreed a 7.1 per cent pay hike deal with Merseyrail.
But as many commuters faced another day of travel chaos, due to knock-on disruption caused by yesterday’s walkout on the Tube and rail network, Mr Raab laid out battlelines against the Rail Maritime and Transport union for a long fight over the summer.
With the RMT being offered a three per cent pay rise for workers, Mr Raab told Times Radio: “If it was pushed up to the seven per cent plus that the unions are demanding what we would see is inflation go up and that would then have a vicious cycle effect. It would only push up inflation — we cannot allow this militant activity to win.”
New talks were taking place today between the RMT and rail chiefs to try to find a compromise to avoid months of industrial action, though any deal if it happens would probably not stop disruption from tomorrow’s planned rail strike.
The RMT’s resolve, though, may be stiffened by the TSSA union announcing that its members who work for Merseyrail had accepted a 7.1 per cent pay offer.
TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes tweeted: “It is a sensible outcome to a reasonable offer which goes a long way towards keeping pace with the escalating cost of living.”
The deal was struck amid the threat of more strikes by teachers, postal workers, nurses, doctors, civil servants, barristers, and BT engineers.
Teachers told Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi they want “inflation-plus” pay increases or they will consider strike action.
The National Education Union wrote to the Education Secretary saying it will ballot members for strike action in the autumn if the government does not “respond to the new reality on inflation.”
Services started later than normal today as trains were delayed leaving depots due to Network Rail signallers and control room staff who would usually have worked overnight shifts taking part in yesterday’s strike. Just 60 per cent of trains will run across the day as a whole, and some operators will wind down services slightly earlier than normal tonight ahead of tomorrow’s walkouts.
The third strike of the week is planned for Saturday. Around 40,000 members of the RMT union at Network Rail and 13 train operators are involved in the industrial action.
RMT members on London Underground also went on strike yesterday, with services also slow at getting back running normally this morning.
The joint action caused travel chaos across Britain, with roads rammed with traffic.
The “Boris bike” hire scheme recorded its second highest number of rides as Londoners took to two wheels during yesterday’s Tube strike.
There were more than 67,000 hires of the Santander-sponsored bikes — more than double the daily average of 27,000 a day.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the turnout at picket lines yesterday was “fantastic” and had exceeded expectations in the union’s campaign for job security, defending conditions and a decent pay rise.
He said: “RMT members are leading the way for all workers in this country who are sick and tired of having their pay and conditions slashed by a mixture of big business profits and Government policy.”
However, rail chiefs say the industry must ditch outdated practices and if they do a pay deal of more than three per cent could be on the table, with around 1,800 job cuts, which would aim to be achieved mainly by voluntary means.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Unions have shut down big parts of the rail network, hitting local businesses and unfairly cutting people off from hospitals, schools and work. However, early data shows that unlike in the past, many people now have the opportunity to work from home, so we haven’t even a rush to the roads, as traffic has instead gone online, which means the unions aren’t having the overall impact they might have hoped.”
