Mick Lynch has called for an 'uprising' from workers across different public sector roles as the cost of living crisis worsens in the UK. The RMT general secretary made his comments as teachers, nurses and midwives are set to be balloted for strike action.
More than 400,000 NHS staff will vote on possible strikes later in October, as well as members of one of the biggest teaching unions and headteachers in Wales. During the TUC's annual congress, motions calling for coordinated action between striking unions will be put to a vote.
Mr Lynch said at a fringe event: "We need an uprising. We need a whole wave of synchronised, coordinated action... I don't care what it's called and I don't care if [TUC leaders] Paul Nowak or Frances [O'Grady] are the ones to coordinate it - as long as they don't get in the way. We can get on with it ourselves frankly."
READ MORE: 'Please support us': One nurse's powerful message as strike ballots begin over better pay
Union bosses, including Unite chief Sharon Graham and Unison general secretary Christina McAnea, have both said that union bosses are in talks about joining forces, the Mirror reports. this might not officially be a "general strike," but Ms Graham said more than a million workers could walk out this winter.
Mr Lynch continued, saying that the Tories could cling on until the next election, "like slime, like bacteria or whatever it is. They will cling on and they will come for us again. They will try to make us the enemy."
The RMT boss captured the public's attention this summer during the rail strikes via some explosive interviews with Piers Morgan and Richard Madeley, in which he told Mr Madeley: "Richard, you do come out with the most remarkable twaddle sometimes."
He's been the RMT's general secretary since mid-2021, and was an electrician and a construction worker before he joined the railway trade and then the RMT. He was extremely vocal during the strikes, which took place across several days in the summer.
TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady told the congress: "It wasn't wages or workers who caused this crisis and we refuse to let workers pay for it. People ask me 'Will the TUC coordinate strike action this winter?' And I say 'We already are'."
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