Lynch says ministers want strikes to go ahead and “torpedoed” negotiations

Mick Lynch has argued that the government wants strike action to take place and that ministers have “torpedoed” negotiations in a bid to “look tough”.

In a Sky News interview this morning, the RMT general secretary told viewers that ministers have told the private train operators to “take on the strikes” rather than allowing them to attempt to find a solution to the industrial dispute.

He accused Rishi Sunak of “acting tough” in the Commons during Prime Minister’s Questions time on Wednesday and said he had “given in to his backbenchers on all sorts of things”. Lynch added: “He’s going to try and make the RMT and the other trade unions as bogeymen.”

“They want this strike action to go ahead when there are solutions and possible solutions that railway management and railway executives could put to us to try and get a resolution – and they are stopping that from happening,” he told viewers.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady and UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea have also alleged that ministers are refusing to negotiate in good faith with trade unions. In a joint letter to Jeremy Hunt, they told the Chancellor that no public sector workers want to take strike action this winter.

Border guards manning airport passport control announced on Wednesday a new eight-day strike from December 23rd to New Year’s Eve affecting Heathrow, which has been planning for its busiest Christmas since 2019. Gatwick and Manchester, Birmingham and Cardiff airports, will also be affected.

The walkout comes as the country expects planned strikes by nurses, railway staff, Royal Mail workers, airport baggage handlers and civil servants in the coming weeks in protest at real-terms wage cuts while inflation runs at 11%.

Train drivers at 12 rail companies have also voted overwhelmingly to continue strike action in a long-running row over pay. Labour-affiliated union ASLEF said the turnouts in its ballots were “huge”, showing how angry its members are.

The RMT general secretary told viewers this morning he does not want a “general strike” and but warned that trade unions must “maximise their leverage” to combat wage suppression, adding: “It would be daft if they didn’t coordinate and synchronise their action.”

“I don’t think there’ll be a general strike in the way that we traditionally look at it, but I think the unions will coordinate and synchronise their power and their influence so that they can get a better deal for their people because this country needs to change – and I think that the country is ready for change,” he said.

“We need a fairer society that is based on a greater distribution of wealth. The super rich are insulated in this country. We’ve got corruption that seems to be endemic, both on our railways and in general society, the way that business is being conducted.”

He highlighted that “the only people that are losing out is the ordinary men and women that are running this country and creating the wealth” and pointed out that if the rail strikes go ahead, the operating companies “will not lose a penny because of the corrupt way the system is set up”.