Union Baron Mick Lynch has described the railway industry dispute as the “struggle of our lives” as the strikes look set to get worse with train drivers of up to £ 71,000 a year voting industrial actions.
Mick Lynch, the £ 124,000-a-year general secretary of the Railway, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, said negotiations on wages, jobs and conditions were the “toughest” the union had ever been involved in. .
It comes as Mike Whelan, head of the Aslef train drivers ’union, threatened passengers with a“ massive ”disruption in the coming months after its members voted their first national strike since 1995.
Massive departures of train drivers by paid workers in the coming months would aggravate the chaos of the country’s travel and will be the latest in a wave of departures that have raised fears of a “summer of discontent”.
It will also draw attention, as the average salary of train drivers is £ 59,000, which rises to £ 71,000 for train drivers on the east coast of LNER. The average UK salary is £ 25,971.
Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Railway, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, said negotiations on wages, jobs and conditions were the “toughest” the union had ever been involved in.
Aslef, led by Mike Whelan, votes for drivers of 10 train companies, with the first results next week.
Aslef held a vote on union action that coincided with a similar vote by the TSSA union representing staff at stations and ticket offices.
Voting came shortly after the country’s rail network came to a halt after the RMT went on strike last month, with the union threatening to lower it later in the summer.
Members of the RMT have organized three strikes in a row that have paralyzed services. No new strikes have been established and talks continue between the union, Network Rail and train operators.
Lynch said yesterday at the annual RMT meeting in Birmingham: “We went to the train operators and put on the table that virtually all railway workers would be hired again with a new employment contract and a new set of terms and conditions.
“And they will recover the disputes that only the drivers operated in each train operating company. They told me face to face. They said it was their mandate from the Department of Transportation.
“So this is as serious as it gets. It’s the struggle of our lives and our generation. ‘
The RMT general secretary criticized those blaming workers for the cost-of-living crisis in Britain, arguing that unions ’wage demands were not the cause of inflation.
He said: “It is a myth discovered by the establishment that workers’ wages are the cause of inflation. It is the making of profits and the protection of the wealth of the super-rich who are responsible for inflation.
“We don’t have a wage price spiral: wages are far behind prices and it’s the unions’ job to make sure wages catch up.”
Yesterday, large sections of the highway network were also blocked after protesters protesting rising fuel prices blocked traffic.
Unrest among union members is largely attributed to the inflation spiral as workers struggle to make ends meet with their current wage packages.
Aslef votes for drivers of 10 train companies, with the first results next week.
“It will be much more disruptive than it has been in the past. We don’t strike very often,” Mick Whelan, general secretary of the Aslef drivers’ union, told the Financial Times.
Staff at three companies have already voted in favor of the strike action and Whelan said it was “likely” that the outings would be coordinated. This would, in fact, lead to the first national drivers’ strike since 1995.
‘We believe [strikes] it will have a massive effect, “he said, adding,” There will be a summer of disruptions. “
The train driver’s vote will raise the old ones as the average train driver’s salary is £ 59,000, which rises to £ 71,000 for drivers on LNER’s east coast trains. The average UK salary is £ 25,971
Aslef staff have been offered a 2 per cent pay rise, as well as money saved with productivity gains, such as changes in exchange patterns.
However, Whelan said its members deserve a closer rise in inflation, which is expected to reach 11 percent in October.
The TSSA is also threatening action, with the results of the votes of 10 train operators and Network Rail in the next two weeks.
Avanti West Coast staff voted “overwhelmingly” in favor of industrial action in a dispute over wages, job security and conditions last week.
Manuel Cortes, TSSA general secretary, warned ministers to “take note” of the workers’ decision to go on strike and that the result is “just the beginning”.
Whelan denied that the three unions were coordinating their industrial action, but the large number of ballots sent to the industry means some senior railway executives are resigned to a summer of growing disruption.
Two industry executives said that if drivers from all companies went out simultaneously, the network would run less than 10 percent of normal services.
The government has reprimanded unions that have disrupted people’s lives and are now threatening new ‘minimum service agreements’, which would mean that a number of services would have to be maintained in the event of a strike.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has also said he wants to introduce a new law that would make it difficult for unions to strike unless they adhere closely to the wording of their initial vote.
In a statement, the government said: “We want the railway unions to be fully committed to their employers, instead of Aslef, it first seeks to cause more misery to passengers by joining others to disrupt the railway network.”
Stop the protest mobs! Priti Patel calls on police to use new powers to break up fuel demonstrations as the day of action hits highways and a summer of chaos approaches
James Tozer, David Barrett and Josh White for the Daily Mail
Priti Patel urged police last night to use new tough powers to stop fuel protesters stopping British roads.
After a day of interruptions, the interior minister said officers should arrest and prosecute drivers behind the “slow” protests.
Her turn came when a Conservative MP warned that rising anger over the rising price of filling could see Canadian-style “Freedom Convoy” blockades targeting London. A veteran of the fuel protests that paralyzed Britain in 2000 is helping to coordinate what organizers hope will be a “summer of discontent.”
Protesters causing road disruptions risk harsher punishments with the measures that went into effect earlier this year.
Police are shown making a Section 12 arrest after a motorist drove just 10 mph yesterday
Fuel price protesters set up a blockade along the M4 near Bristol yesterday morning
Priti Patel (pictured 2021) has urged police to stop protests holding back the country.
They were designed to combat protests by groups like Extinction Rebellion, but would also apply to fuel advocates.
The maximum penalty for “willful obstruction of a road” was increased to six months in prison and an unlimited fine. Previously, the crime only involved a low fine.
An Interior Ministry source said last night: “Through our Police, Crime, Convictions and Courts Act, we have given the police a lot of powers to deal with harmful and harmful protests, including imprisonment and unlimited fines for those who block a road, actions that inflict more pain on those affected by rising prices.
“The interior minister would encourage and support the police to make use of all available powers. The forces must move the people.
“These protests are preventing people from going to work and making other vital trips. It’s not about whether you believe in the cause or not.”
Fuel protesters clashed with police as officers tried to stop them from leaving Ferrybridge Services
A group of fuel protesters is seen deliberating with police in West Yorkshire yesterday
In other developments:
- Ecoactivists from the fossil fuel group Just Stop Oil yesterday covered Constable’s The Hay Wain with a simulated version and stuck to the artwork’s frame.
- A petition calling for fuel taxes to be cut exceeded 300,000 signatures
- Gary Lineker was attacked by F1 commentator Martin Brundle after the former footballer praised the environmental protesters who stormed the Silverstone track during Sunday’s Grand Prix.
- Air travelers faced further disruptions as queues meandered through parking lots and outside the airport terminal buildings, fueling fears of a collapse of the summer school holidays.
Thousands of motorcyclists suffered long delays yesterday after protesters formed slow convoys on major routes, demanding an immediate reduction in the fuel tax.
In a campaign organized on social media, drivers went down to the agreed meeting points yesterday morning, with the Prince of Wales Bridge between England and South Wales closed in both directions.
He made Bristol Airport advise travelers to allow extra time for their travels.
The M54 in Shropshire and the M62 in West Yorkshire were also interrupted by separate protest convoys, with a Tesco petrol station in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, also targeted.
Farmer Andrew Spence, who pointed to a Shell plant in Jarrow, South Tyneside, in demonstrations 22 years ago, said yesterday’s action was “just the beginning of things to come”. He added: “We promise a summer of discontent; this will only get bigger and bigger.”
Spence, 55, of Durham County, said the arrival of sites like Facebook had transformed his ability to mobilize people angry at rising fuel prices.
“Social media is what makes people stand up and realize,” he said. “That’s something we didn’t have in the early 2000s.”
Just Stop Oil protesters join hands today as part of John Constable’s The Hay Wain at the National Gallery.
Spence said refinery blockades “had not been ruled out.” Conservative MP Robert Halfon …