Shadow Secretary Lisa Nandy is the first Labor leader to break ranks and say publicly that she supports the railway workers’ strikes in the coming weeks if ministers do not address their concerns.
The railway workers of the Union of Railway, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) will start on June 21, 23 and 25, with effects also likely to interrupt many services on days when workers are not on strike.
Network Rail is developing contingency plans to enable the execution of some mainline services. The strikes, which will include most of its signaling staff, as well as the staff on board and the station of 13 train companies, are expected to leave less than one in five services in operation, probably only among the 7 in the morning and 7 in the afternoon on the main lines.
The government has called the strikes “self-defeating”, saying they could take more passengers away in the long run.
Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Nandy said: “We want to avoid strikes and we are on the side of the public on this.
“We are also on the side of the railway workers and I was talking to some railway workers on Monday just before I got on the train to get off in London.
“They are facing the same pressures as everyone else: the cost of food, the cost of rising inflation rates, rising taxes and they are really struggling to make ends meet.
“They are the people who came out and applauded during the pandemic because they maintained our services and have seen their pay in real terms attacked over and over again over the last decade.”
A spokesman for Labor leader Keir Starmer said earlier that he supported the general right of workers to withdraw from work, but believed that rail strikes should not continue.
Commentators have noted that other members of the first Labor bench have been remarkably silent on the issue.
The RMT said it would be open to “significant proposals” guaranteeing non-compulsory dismissal and retribution.
In the Commons, Boris Johnson described the strikes as “reckless and unbridled”.
The prime minister’s spokesman also said the strikes would keep people away from using the railways when the number of passengers had already dropped to pre-pandemic levels.
“It’s a self-destructive approach that will do lasting damage not only to the railroads, but also to the railroad workers,” they said.
The planned industrial action, after a vote of 40,000 members via Network Rail and 13 train companies last month, will begin on Tuesday 21 June and will run on alternate days until Saturday.
Compulsory layoffs among railway workers have not yet been threatened by Network Rail or train operators, but as the number of passengers remains stubbornly below pre-Covid levels, companies are seeking up to £ 2 billion. in annual savings.
Many railroad workers have had their wages frozen during the pandemic and have not yet been offered a pay rise, with inflation at their highest for decades.
Some 10,000 RMT members working on the London Underground will also go on strike on June 21, in a parallel dispute over jobs and pensions, stopping the network. The Unite union announced on Tuesday that about 1,000 members of Transport for London, including some members of the Tube staff, would march 24 hours a day on the same day, intensifying the disruption.