The transport secretary has told railway staff not to “risk stopping work” a few days before the industrial action that will close much of the railway next week.
In a speech, Grant Shapps said he was “directly appealing to workers” rather than unions, saying the strikes were “an attempt to derail reforms that are critical to the future of the network and designed to cause harm.” at the worst possible time “. .
Network Rail bosses have estimated that next week’s stoppages by RMT members of its signaling and maintenance staff in Britain, as well as on-board and station staff working for 13 train operators in England, they will cost the industry about £ 150 million in lost revenue.
Speaking at a Siemens train depot in north London, Shapps said he wanted to see a staff pay rise, but added: “Wages should be at the same level as the general public sector.”
He declined to say what a fair wage level would be, but this week has highlighted the 7% increase in a decade received by police and nurses ’salaries that are 30% lower than the railroad average.
Shapps said: “The railroad is struggling today. It’s not just about competing with other forms of public and private transportation. It’s in a battle with Zoom, Teams and Remote Work.”
After the pandemic, he said, the strikes “would lose even more passengers, more revenue … and potentially lose thousands of rail jobs.”
He added: “Don’t risk leaving a job. Don’t stand up to the public.” Asked later, Shapps said the words were “not a threat, it’s a statement of reality.”
He reiterated the idea that agency workers could be used if the strikes were prolonged. “Transferable skills, sometimes called agency work, will also be available in this particular dispute.”
Network Rail has said the cost of training agency workers “would be prohibitive” for most functions.
The Secretary of Transport again ruled out joining the ongoing talks to resolve the conflict, saying it was up to the employer.
However, several railway sources have said that they have no room for maneuver to offer salary increases to staff and are obliged to the Treasury. Rail contracts since the coronavirus pandemic are tightly controlled by the government, with companies paying a management fee and not collecting revenue.
Mick Lynch, Secretary General of the RMT, said: “The threats that Grant Shapps is making today to the livelihoods of railway workers and their right to strike are shameful and will make members of the RMT even more vulnerable. determined to win this dispute “.
TSSA union leader Manuel Cortés said: “Unfortunately, and perhaps predictably, what we heard from the transport secretary was very similar to threats and intimidation of workers rather than constructive dialogue.”
The union, which has voted for Network Rail and some train operator executives to act and could call strikes next month, said the Department of Transportation did not allow train operators to make wage offers or job security guarantees. , which called into question what could be achieved through negotiations.
He said many railway workers, such as customer service staff, had low wages, and members working for LNER received just above the full-time minimum wage of £ 18,278, while many employees at the The station received a salary of about £ 24,000.
The unions said the government was trying to pull political capital out of the strike instead of seeking a solution. Conservatives are seeking to link Labor to the payroll, with campaign emails calling for support to “stop Labor strikes” and MPs posting on Twitter with the hashtag #StopLabourStrikes.
Labor said ministers were provoking rather than resolving the conflict. Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, said: “Not only are ministers boycotting the talks, they are tying the hands of those at the table.”
“Ministers have the power to resolve this dispute, so it is totally a farce that they have not spent a single second in talks since March. It is up to the government to avoid these strikes and the disruption of citizenship. But every day is more Of course, ministers would rather provoke this dispute than lift a finger to resolve it. “
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The three impending 24-hour strikes, of 40,000 members of the RMT, will cause almost a week of interruptions. Departures are on June 21, 23 and 25 and from June 20 to 26 there will be a special schedule. Several operators have already told passengers not to try to travel on strike days.
Much of Britain will have no passenger service on strike days, when around 20% of trains will run on main lines and urban areas. Services will start later in the morning and will be limited to around 60% of normal hours in the following days.
A separate London Underground strike will also halt much of the capital’s transport on Tuesday, with the Overground and Elizabeth lines affected by the week-long national strike.
The multichannel operator Eurostar confirmed that it would also have to cancel trains in the early hours of the morning and in the evening due to the strike: between three and five services a day.