Today’s rail strike is not the outcome wanted by the unions and certainly not the outcome wanted by passengers.
But is it the outcome wanted by the Conservatives?
For years unions have used the prospect of industrial action as leverage.
It is not a threat they use lightly – after all, it costs their members money for every day they are not at work – but it has been proven to be an effective way of getting bosses to negotiate a deal.
On this occasion there was no eleventh-hour settlement for the simple reason that Grant Shapps was unwilling to talk to the RMT.
The Transport Secretary argued it was a matter for the union and employers, conveniently forgetting that as the person ultimately in charge of Network Rail he is the employer. He could have been in the room.
Indeed, a responsible Transport Secretary who wanted to minimise the inconvenience for travellers would have been in the room.
Perhaps it would have come to nothing. Perhaps the RMT’s Mick Lynch would have refused to budge but at least Shapps could have said he did everything to avert the strike.
By refusing to negotiate, the Government has all but admitted it wanted this dispute.
It is in keeping with this government’s fetish with trying to return to the days of Margaret Thatcher.
Just as they have revived right-to-buy and brought back the crown mark on pint glasses now they are indulging in old-fashioned union bashing.
In October, Boris Johnson told the Tory Party conference the country was moving to a “high-wage, high-skilled” economy.
Now the Tories are picking a fight with workers who are demanding just that.
