Some striking train drivers ‘earn more than £100,000’, railway sources claim, as transport minister Grant Shapps emphasizes railway workers already have ‘generous salaries’
- Transport secretary Grant Shapps says railway workers have ‘generous salaries’
- More than 40,000 rail workers go on strike next week, causing travel woes
- Rail industry sources claim some drivers earn over £100,000 from overtime
Striking railway workers were accused yesterday of demanding wage increases ‘with a gun’ amid claims some drivers are already earning more than £100,000 a year.
Ahead of more congestion this week, Transport Minister Grant Shapps angrily insisted that train drivers and other railway workers had already “paid generous salaries by the public.”
But union leaders were willing to punish and incite commuters inflation by demanding even more, he added.
Mr Shapps said, ‘And who’s going to pay for these pay increases demanded by the gun? The weary taxpayer who has already pumped £16 billion in bailout money during the pandemic to save the railway?’
The condemnation came from rail industry sources who claimed some drivers were already earning more than £100,000 a year after working overtime. However, the train drivers’ union ASLEF disputed the claim last night, with an insider saying that across all train operators, “I don’t know anyone who deserves that amount.”
Figures have previously shown that a fifth of train and tram drivers earned £70,000 or more.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has urged railroad workers to receive generous salaries as thousands plan to go on strike over wages next week
ASLEF members who work for seven companies — including Greater Anglia, West Midlands Trains and Southeastern — will go on strike next Saturday over claims they hadn’t made pay offers to help staff keep pace with the rise in the cost of living.
Separately, 40,000 members of the RMT union — which represents a range of workers from train guards and signalmen to catering staff and cleaners — will go on strike for a day this Wednesday in an ongoing wage dispute with Network Rail.
Ministers will launch a consultation this autumn on plans to enact legislation to mitigate the impact of future strikes.
The move would fulfill a commitment from the 2019 Tory manifesto to “require minimum service during transport strikes” – with the aim of ensuring that members of the public who rely on the railways as their primary mode of transport are not completely cut off from work , school or essential medical appointments.
Shapps dismissed the threat of more strikes last night, saying: “The RMT and ASLEF want the public to think this is all about wages, and if only they can bring about an inflation-stimulating wage increase, everything can go back to status- quo. ‘
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said his union’s demand for better wages has had a positive response from the public
Lynch said the union would continue to negotiate in good faith ‘but will not be bullied or persuaded by anyone’
But that status quo has been an industry that has “lost a huge chunk of its customers” because of Covid and relies on massive government subsidies to keep it alive, he added.
It was also an industry with “sometimes insane work practices” and where “union-inspired disputes are an almost daily occurrence,” Mr Shapps said. The Transport Minister accused ASLEF and the RMT of punishing commuters and sports fans traveling to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this week.
Mr Shapps also took a swipe at RMT’s high-profile general secretary Mick Lynch, accusing him of “media antics.”
However, Lynch told the BBC last week that his union’s demand for better wages and conditions has “got a massive response” from the public.
Mr Lynch added: ‘I think there is a turning point in the British public about what it’s like in the world of work, the fragility that people are suffering from right now.’
An RMT spokesperson said: “Strikes are always a last resort and we only strike at those companies that have not given their staff a raise since 2019.”