Rishi Sunak has vowed to press ahead with new legislation to end the misery of train strikes after militant union boss Mick Lynch announced plans for new action over Christmas. No10 said the prime minister will proceed to pass a new bill to prevent unions from bringing the UK’s transport network to a standstill “as soon as parliamentary time allows”.
The Transport Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) bill requires some trains to continue running even if industrial action takes place. And the government warned it “will not hesitate to move forward” if necessary to end Britain’s holding of a ransom by trade union demands.
Mr Sunak renewed his pledge to impose the new rules after Mr Lynch confirmed that train workers will leave from 6pm on Christmas Eve until 6am until December 27.
New strike dates were announced after the RMT union rejected an offer of an eight percent wage increase for 2022 and 203 and no redundancies before 2025.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It is incredibly disappointing that the RMT has chosen to take further damaging action rather than acknowledging that this is a generous and fair deal that could have ended this dispute.
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“We believe the RMT should take this offer seriously. We have been fair and reasonable in our approach.
“We facilitated the kind of offer the RMT was asking for, a fair pay rise without mandatory layoffs.
“These additional strikes planned around Christmas mean the RMT risks driving more people off the railways at a time when passengers and businesses should be taking advantage of this festive period.
“That will only add to the major railway financing problems that need to be tackled sustainably.”
A new law requiring minimum train services during strike action was first promised by the Conservatives in the 2019 general election manifesto.
The government said the global pandemic has delayed the ability to introduce the legislation, and it will not be presented to parliament until October 20, 2022.
Next week, 14 train companies will also be affected as the RMT has recommended that its members should reject Network Rail’s latest offer.
Mr Lynch insisted he does not want a strike before Christmas, but argued that his members are being forced into action by the government not giving train operators a proper mandate to negotiate wages and conditions.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We regret the inconvenience we are causing, but this inconvenience is being caused by the government leading the roadmap and strategy for the companies and directing what is going on.
“They even held back these meager offers until the last minute, so they know it’s very difficult to deal with these offers.”
Labor has blamed the “militant government” for the strike chaos.
Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said: “It’s a complete government mess and they really need to sort this out.
“When I speak to the unions, it is very clear that they do not want to go on strike, they want to resolve this dispute.
“It’s this government that seems to want to ramp it up and attack workers’ rights and cause this disruption.”