Rail strikes: Grant Shapps threatens to dismantle union powers to walk out

St Pancras Station was empty on Wednesday morning (Jeremy Selwyn)

Threats to dismantle union powers to strike were reiterated by a Cabinet minister on Wedneday as the railways ground to a halt.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he would limit the abilities of “militant, extreme-Left unions” after a series of walkouts this year.

About 40,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union have walked out in a dispute over jobs, pay, pensions and working conditions.

Just one in five trains were running on about half the network, with some areas having no services all day.

More strikes are due over the weekend and a wave of industrial action is planned next month on the railways and London Underground.

Mr Shapps said that during his time as Transport Secretary the unions had issued “about 160 disputes” and “there hasn’t been a single day” when there were no strikes or a mandate for industrial action.

“That is just not normal in any industry,” he told Sky News. “And that is why we need to do more to remove the power of these very militant, extreme-Left unions from disrupting everyday lives of ordinary people.”

(Jeremy Selwyn)

He added: “They have been taking passengers for a ride on this for far too long and it is one of the reasons we are on the road to introducing legislation, legal changes, law changes to start to make the service run better even when there are strikes on.”

But RMT general secretary Mick Lynch hit back saying his union represented “normal men and women” who would struggle without wage rises in line with inflation as the cost of living continues to spiral.

Furious London commuters condemned thw strike which crippled the transport system.

The action again triggered advice to work from home where possible and avoid the rail network.

But many were still scrambling for services this morning and had no choice but head to stations in the hope of finding a train.

Liam Hudson, 32, a City worker, said: “I walked past Mr Lynch and he looked pleased with himself but these strikes are a hammer blow to the economy.”

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Mustafa Deniz, 58, a businessman, said: “I’ve had enough of these unions and strikes. I would have some sympathy but after Covid people need to get back to work.

“They are holding us to ransom while the cost-of-living crisis is crippling us. I can’t get staff at the moment, everything seems to be going the wrong way.”

Network Rail’s chief executive Andrew Haines said a pay offer had been rejected by the union and accused the RMT of being “hell-bent on continuing their political campaigning, rather than compromising and agreeing a deal for their members”.

He said: “I can only apologise for the impact this pointless strike will have on passengers, especially those travelling for holidays or attending events such as the Uefa Women’s Euro 2022 semi- final and the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.”

It comes as Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss promised a further crackdown on unions if she became Prime Minister.

(PA)

She has pledged to legislate for minimum service levels on critical national infrastructure, such as railways, in the first 30 days in government.

The proposals were slammed as the “biggest attack” on worker rights since the Seventies.

RMT boss Mr Lynch, who was at a picket line outside Euston Station, added: “[Train operators] have made no offer on pay to our members,

“What they have offered us is mass redundancies, re-contracting our members on inferior terms and conditions, massive changes to our work life balance and cuts to the safety regime.”

He added: “It’s ironic to be called ‘not normal’ by the Conservative Party who are talking themselves into the realms of the extreme-Right at the moment.

“They are saying that paying tax isn’t normal and having free trade unions with the ability to take industrial action isn’t normal. The people [on the picket line] are ordinary men and women.

“They work hard to deliver the railway service and what they don’t want to do is see their wages diluted, their terms and condition diluted and contracts of employment ripped up. I’m not a militant or a member of a political party. The idea we are running some ideological campaign is nonsense.”