Railway chiefs have warned that this Christmas could be looser than usual if militant Mick Lynch goes ahead with more national strikes this summer.
Industry leaders fear there will be a winter crisis on the charts if freight trains carrying billions of pounds of gifts, food and drink and festive decorations in July and August are disrupted by further RMT drops .
Last week, the government largely avoided a freight crisis by prioritizing freight transportation over passenger services to prevent supermarkets from running out of food.
But with the Lynch brand, in the style of the 1970s, threatening new strike action, potentially next month, and an increase in China’s freight forwarding containers imminent, railway chiefs warned: “Yes this strike is intensifying, it may not be our children ‘s Christmas.
Sources told the Telegraph: “As the year goes on, freight transport is busier, especially containers, so that’s the big concern. The rise of China will come. And those ships are sailing now.
“It’s always busier as you go into August, especially when we start to see how things start to turn out for Christmas. Because obviously if you sell it in October, you’ll send it in August, September. So the Christmas boom is not December, it is very advanced ‘.
Richard Ballantyne, executive director of the British Ports Association, said ports were preparing to be flooded with shipping containers from China in the coming weeks and hoping to avert the chaos of the chain of supply witnessed during the Covid blockade.
He added: “Forward, we will approach those busy pre-Christmas periods. Then, it could be especially useless for new strike actions.
It also emerged that last week’s strikes forced many rail enthusiasts to miss the Rail Live train convention in Stratford-upon-Avon. A source told The Sun: “How stupid the RMT decided when such a large exhibition was made for railway staff.” One attendant added, ‘It was empty because no one could get there, which was ironic.’
And dozens of medical students had their exams canceled yesterday at 11 a.m. due to the disruption caused by the Lynch train strikes.
On Friday at 5 p.m., students received by e-mail that the postgraduate practical assessment exams of clinical examination skills were postponed as a result of the “unavailability of the examiner with a short notice due to of a combination of Covid cases and travel interruptions “. They had already arranged the trip and accommodation for examinations at Southampton General Hospital, the Telegraph reported.
It is presented as:
- Lynch threatened yesterday to start a new industrial action. The head of the RMT has a mandate to launch strikes over the next six months. Ministers fear he may launch more strikes in two weeks;
- Keir Starmer’s work has fallen into disarray today, after leader David Lammy said he supported both striking railroad workers and workers who were unable to go to work because of the strike;
- A furious game of guilt erupted, with the unions accusing Grant Shapps of having provoked strikes by refusing to negotiate with the RMT;
- Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is willing to overturn the possibility of militant unions having electronic votes.
VICTORY: Passengers waiting for trains in Victoria from London today, while travel interruptions continue after yesterday’s strike
VICTORY: Passengers sit in seats at London Victoria Station waiting for their trains today, as journey interruptions continue
KINGS CROSS: Mick Lynch speaking during a demonstration in solidarity with railway workers on strike yesterday
VICTORY: Passengers at Victoria bus station in London yesterday amid Lynch train strikes
GLASGOW: Chris Mitchell, GMB coordinator for clean-up and clean-up, joins protesters in support of the RMT yesterday
Hit that! The company secretary threatens to overthrow the electronic strike ballots of the unions
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is willing to overturn the possibility of militant unions having electronic votes.
An independent review of electronic voting in 2017, led by former chief fire and rescue adviser Sir Ken Knight, concluded that the method should be “examined under test conditions before introducing- in any real situation or fully implement it “, and only for non – statutory votes.
The Government then said it would consider the recommendations and consult with experts from relevant organizations before responding.
Three years later, in 2020, the Congress of Trade Unions (TUC) argued in favor of electronic voting, making the case that the law as it stands “is firmly attached to the predigital era”.
But Kwarteng is now expected to formally reject the idea, the Telegraph reported, worrying that the votes could be vulnerable to a “malicious attack” by foreign states.
More than 50,000 members of the RMT union left yesterday for the third time this week, with few signs of progress in discussions between the union and railway operators.
Only one-fifth of the services are in operation and half of the lines are closed. Railway operators have warned passengers that they should only travel by train if necessary and that they should check their journey in advance.
Lynch said the union has not ruled out new strikes as there are few signs of a breakthrough in the blocked row.
Speaking to the PA news agency at a picket line outside Euston station in central London yesterday morning, he said: “We do not rule out strikes, but we have not set a date for to no strike action.
“We are going to check with our national executive next week, which this week has been across the country on the picket line, so we will all meet the union leadership and see where we are.
“We will not mention dates immediately and we will continue to work constructively with companies to reach an agreement, but this is a very difficult challenge right now because of the agenda they have and the effects they want.
“The strike action is not ruled out and will have to be carried out if we do not reach an agreement, but we hope we can reach an agreement and reach some compromise.
“What we’re trying to do is have the most effective strike action if it needs to take place. We’re not just pretending. It has to be a consistent and effective strike because we don’t want to waste our partners’ energy on something that doesn’t work. we will review and see what we need to do if we are to take that action. “
Lynch also attacked the government, saying many ministers “have never done their part.”
He said, “They’re not using the system they want and they’ve never worked on that kind of work.”
“A lot of them have never run a business, but they’ve never worked with the tools either. As my mother would say, they’ve never done a turn of the hand.
‘It’s pretty weird. The people who run this country have been raised on a Latin and Greek diet and our members have been raised on a diet of getting up at ungodly times to make the transportation system work. I think there is a bit of a disconnect.
“If we had people who were used to working, we could get a better deal.”
Lynch later spoke at an RMT demonstration in front of King’s Cross St Pancras station, alongside Labor MP Diane Abbott and actor Rob Delaney.
Several hundred people gathered with many banners reading slogans such as: “Tories out”, “reduce the benefits of not paying” and “support the railway strike”.
Meanwhile, songs like the workers ’anthem‘ Internationale ’and‘ Solidarity Forever ’sounded from the speakers on an improvised podium.
Ms Abbott told the crowd: “We have seen the private sector scam the public stock market, affect wages and conditions, undermine job security and we have seen an increasingly demoralized public sector.
“But the RMT is drawing a line in the sand against all of this and offering leadership to working people everywhere and that’s why it’s so important for the RMT to win this dispute.”
Delaney, meanwhile, told the crowd that the strike was “inspiring” and called RMT’s action a “spearhead.”
“I offer my unwavering support and solidarity,” he said.
More than 90% of London office workers were forced to go to the FMH on the first day of Mick Lynch’s train strikes. The average office occupancy in the capital was only 9% on Tuesday compared to 42% last Tuesday, lower even than during the December Omicron scare peak. Yesterday’s employment levels rose to 23%, according to data from technology company Freespace
KINGS CROSS: Kings Cross station was deserted on Thursday as millions of travelers face a third day of chaos
MANCHESTER: An almost deserted Manchester Piccadilly station on Thursday, the second day of mass strikes
Make up your mind! Workers fall into disarray because of the strikes, as Lammy says she supports BOTH strikers and workers who can’t get to work because of them.
Keir Starmer’s work has fallen into more chaos today after David Lammy said he supported both strikers and workers who were unable to work because of them.
Speaking to broadcasters on Sunday morning’s news rounds, the shadow foreign secretary said “it is not up to Labor to intervene” on all issues that concern workers.
He told Sky News: “There are a number of issues that concern workers across the country. It is not up to Labor to intervene in each and pretend that we can negotiate, or that we are in the details of that; we are not is the truth of it.
‘If we were in government, we would get around the table, we wouldn’t play in the union.’
Asked if he would support the strike by different unions, he said: “I recognize that there is a crisis in the cost of living, I recognize that workers are suffering and I recognize that they have a Government that does not listen, but I do recognize. it’s a negotiation: go around the negotiating table and fix this problem. ‘
Lammy also denied suggestions that Sir Keir had “lost control of his own MPs” after dozens joined the RMT picket lines against the Labor leader’s order.
Asked what repercussions they will have …