Grant Shapps today told thousands of striking rail workers they could lose their jobs as he threatened to tear up walkout laws this summer.
Unions accused the Transport Secretary of a “disgraceful threat” to train staff protesting over pay, conditions and maintenance job cuts, after he said they could “strike themselves out of a job“.
He said the railways were battling for “survival” after Covid and threatened to “cut their cloth” if passengers don’t return.
He claimed the walkouts themselves will “potentially lose thousands of railway jobs” by driving ticket-holders away.
Mr Shapps later claimed “I’m not threatening anybody”, adding: “It’s not a threat, it’s a statement of reality.” He said: “With strikes all we’re going to do is lose even more passengers, lose even more revenue, make further investment in railways uneconomical and potentially lose thousands of railway jobs as well.”
The top Tory also indicated he will change the law as soon as this summer to let agency workers break strikes. Unions and Labour have condemned the plan as unsafe but he said it may be used “in this particular dispute” if it “drags on”.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will stage the biggest walkout in decades on June 21, 23 and 25 across 13 major lines and Network Rail.
Mr Shapps announced season ticket holders will get automatic compensation during the walkout, with details to be confirmed.
In a speech at a rail depot in Hornsey, north London, he said rail firms should make working on Sundays compulsory.
And he stood by plans to close what unions say will be 1,000 ticket offices, claiming many were poorly used.
But he admitted Tory plans to impose “minimum service levels” on strike-hit industries, forcing at least some staff to keep working during a walkout, will not be introduced in time for the current strike.
The strike descended into a political football with Deputy PM Dominic Raab branding it “deeply irresponsible” today.
Yet Tory ministers have not met rail unions for more than three months, saying they should negotiate directly with rail firms instead.
Mr Shapps refused calls to sit down with the RMT because “it would undermine the position of the employers in that negotiation”.
Yet he made the comments minutes after giving a lengthy speech to the national media attacking the strikes.
He branded RMT general secretary Mick Lynch “desperate” by asking for talks yesterday and said it was not in “good faith”.
And despite pleas to set up contingency plans, he said there was no point because there are “thousands” of stations.
“There is nothing that could be done other than trying to run as many services as possible,” he claimed.
He said the railway can no longer fund itself through ticket sales in the same way after £16bn of emergency funding during Covid.
Mr Shapps said strikes would “cause misery” and appealed to rail workers he claimed were “less militant” than their unions.
"Don't risk striking yourselves out of a job," he said. "Don't pitch yourselves against the public.
"Let's fix this situation and get back to building a better railway."
Asked by the Mirror if this was a “threat” to cut thousands more jobs he replied: “It’s not a threat, it’s a statement of reality.”
He added: “If we can’t get people back to our railways, then of course we will have to cut the railways’ cloth.”
On compensation, he said season ticket holders will get automatic payments after next week’s walkout.
He said: “Passengers will be compensated for the disruption. In addition to existing refund agreements that are already in place, we will ensure season ticket holders will be able to claim full compensation on strike days."
Mr Shapps said changes to let agency workers onto the railways to fill strike gaps can be passed without an Act of Parliament.
“That will be very much quicker,” he said. “If this strike drags on… then transferable skills, sometimes called agency working, would be something which would become available in this particular dispute.”
He claimed he was not freezing rail workers’ pay as unions say but warned “pay needs to be in step with the wider public sector”.
Pitting workers against each other, he said the average rail worker earns £44,000 and train driver £59,000 compared to £31,000 for the average nurse.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: "The threats made by Grant Shapps today to railway workers livelihoods and their right to strike are disgraceful and will make RMT members even more fiercely determined to win this dispute.
"Instead of playing to the gallery for his own personal political ambitions, Mr Shapps needs to act like a pragmatic Transport Secretary who is willing to meet with the union and help us reach a negotiated settlement.
"It is clear now the government are intent on making this industrial dispute over pay and jobs into a political fight with RMT.
"All our members want is a deal that protects their jobs and gives them a pay rise that reflects the cost of living. And they are prepared to take strike action in order to force the government to recognise their just campaign for a fair deal."
