The current wave of rail strikes could go on “indefinitely” unless ministers back down on their demand for driver-only operation of trains, the head of the RMT union has warned.
Mick Lynch said that progress towards agreement in the dispute over pay and conditions was scuppered last weekend by orders from Whitehall for employers to include the demand, which unions had already indicated they would never accept.
He also accused ministers of deliberately seeking to force industrial action over the sensitive Christmas period in order to break public support for strikes.
