Mick Lynch.

The way things are going the rail strike will be still on next Xmas - both sides seem well apart.

Union workers must be losing serious money, train companies losing serious money and many rail users struggling to get around and frightened to buy a ticket several weeks ahead.
 
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The government do have a veto on whatever settlement the companies come to.
They love the strike because they obviously believe that eventually the public will turn against the strikers. PMQ’s Sunak continually accused Starmer of not being able to keep his MP’s away from appearing on picket lines….and the famous union paymasters phrase made an appearance. The rail companies know what they are willing to pay, but the government won’t let them. Yet. Real Politik for beginners.
 
It does feel like a politicised strike from Rail employers point of view they have to do what the Treasury tells them to do.

I think Crown prosecution barristers got 15% from the Government, but they were probably seen as a smaler group of Middle class professionals and treated differently.
 
Sounds like progress is being made between the company and union, just depends whether the government want to sanction a formal offer or not now.

I do have suspicions about whether the government are happy to have this dispute continuing though.
 
Redwurzel said:
The way things are going the rail strike will be still on next Xmas - both sides seem well apart.

Union workers must be losing serious money, train companies losing serious money and many rail users struggling to get around and frightened to buy a ticket several weeks ahead.
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The Government are paying £30,000,000 of our money to the rail companies on every strike day.
Union members are getting no pay on strike days.
The Government have the final say on deals and have stopped rail companies - who are ready to offer new deals - from proceeding, and ending the need to strike.
This is the 2022 version of the 1984/5 Miners strike. This Government is intent on breaking the Unions and the strikes, but this time its not just one union.
The RMT represents the spearhead of union action: the Government raison detre for chucking our money at Railway Companies is to break the RMT.
The Government see this objective as key to their strategy of forcing more workers on to the dole, reducing passenger safety, closing ticket offices across the country and increasing profits to the already subsidised private Railway Companies.
By breaking the union they can reduce the rights of workers, rip up contracts of employment, rescind non-contributory pensions and further push millions of poorly paid workers into poverty.
Its currently a case of the Governments puppy dog media demonising workers asking for decent pay and conditions,
Then demoralising them.
Then controlling and further exploiting them for their own private profits.
 
This distraction suits the government atm. Industrial action, causing huge disruption for the gen public, and massively damaging the economy.

For them, it's a better narrative than the truth which is that...
their incompetence
trashed the economy
caused the cost of living crisis
that triggered industrial action.
 
The Times is reporting this morning that government ministers will ask the union to cancel strikes in the spirit of Xmas, to prevent a massive hit to the economy which is estimated to be 1.6BN.

Doesn't this demonstrate how valuable the railworkers are to the country then? Network Rail are saying they need to save 100m to fund a payrise of 4%, let's say the union ask for 8% its still going to cost far less to the country to award a payrise than it will to allow the strikes to continue.
 
Uwefuchs said:
The Times is reporting this morning that government ministers will ask the union to cancel strikes in the spirit of Xmas, to prevent a massive hit to the economy which is estimated to be 1.6BN.

Doesn't this demonstrate how valuable the railworkers are to the country then? Network Rail are saying they need to save 100m to fund a payrise of 4%, let's say the union ask for 8% its still going to cost far less to the country to award a payrise than it will to allow the strikes to continue.
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Incredible.
They cancelled the strikes for the Queen’s funeral week, in good faith.
They cancelled the most recent strikes in good faith to allow intensive negotiations, the end of which resulted in ZERO offer made to the workers by the Rail Delivery Group.
Now they are asking RMT to cancel strikes ‘in the spirit of Christmas’.

Why don’t they just stop blocking the companies from paying the workers a fair deal, and work with them to resolve the differences over ‘modernisation’ (ie getting rid of masses of the maintenance work force and station staff).
Why aren’t the media calling the government out for their role in all this, instead of repeatedly parroting company/government lines at union leadership, and trying to paint them out to be the bad guys in all this?
The Government, and only the government, are responsible for the continuation and escalation of these strikes. Network Rail, the RDG and the RMT could end them this afternoon, if the Government would only let them get on with it and stop tying their hands!
 
The whole nation knows who the bad guys are.

Even the bad guys are starting to recognise who the bad guys are. Just look at how many of them are bailing out. Saj, being the latest.

Even the Daily Hiel is struggling for dead cat distractions.
 
Uwefuchs said:
The Times is reporting this morning that government ministers will ask the union to cancel strikes in the spirit of Xmas, to prevent a massive hit to the economy which is estimated to be 1.6BN.

Doesn't this demonstrate how valuable the railworkers are to the country then? Network Rail are saying they need to save 100m to fund a payrise of 4%, let's say the union ask for 8% its still going to cost far less to the country to award a payrise than it will to allow the strikes to continue.
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I didn't realise how many people work on the railways and looked up the figure and it said 190,000 which surprised me on the high side.
 
I see He Finally got the audience with senior govt ministers he’s been asking for for weeks.

Go on mick.
 
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