UK Business Secretary Grant Shapps has said trade unions should stop “grandstanding” and get their disputes “settled”.
This comes amid a wave of strike action across the UK in recent months which has included rail workers, Royal Mail employees and nurses.
Last Thursday, ScotRail workers in the RMT union accepted a new pay offer which was put to them.
However, the dispute still involves Network Rail, whose workers are yet to accept any new deal. Passengers across Scotland will still face disruption in December as things stand.
Shapps said that previous transport secretaries had spoken with the unions, but that this had not stopped them from announcing a “whole new set of strikes”.
Speaking to Sky News, he said: “The unions seem absolutely intent on causing the maximum disruption to hard working people in this country, it’s time for them to stop grandstanding and you know get this thing settled."
Shapps served as transport secretary earlier this year until he was replaced by Anne-Marie Trevelyan in Liz Truss’s government before Rishi Sunak then appointed Mark Harper to the role.
He added: “Fortunately actually when it comes to rail, there are lots of modernisations which could be carried out, lots of them which could help to pay for their increase, but they don’t want to modernise, they want to keep stuck in the 1970s and before and that’s a great shame because it’s costing all passengers a lot.”
"The unions seem absolutely intent on causing the maximum disruption." Business Secretary Grant Shapps tells @KayBurley that unions should "stop grandstanding" and that are "lots of modernisations" in rail that could help fund pay increases.https://t.co/PAiZ4D1RJB 📺 Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/T1A0Snc9gM
— Sky News (@SkyNews) November 28, 2022
The Royal College of Nursing also announced members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will strike in December.
The Scottish Government recently announced that a record pay rise had been put to NHS Agenda for Change workers following negotiations with trade unions and employers.
This led to strikes originally planned by Scottish Ambulance Service workers to be called off.
Strikes by the RMT are set to take place on December 13, 14, 16 and 17 and on January 3, 4, 6 and 7.
