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| Volume 52 Number 19, August 27, 2022 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
RMT Press Office issued a statement on August 13, which said that instead of sitting down with RMT and the rail industry to find a negotiated settlement to this dispute, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has politically interfered to prevent a deal.
The statement said:
Responding to a national newspaper interview with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch: "Grant Shapps is a dreadful minister who is continuing his dereliction of duty by issuing idol threats, against railway workers, all for the sake of trying to save his fledging political career.
"Instead of sitting down with RMT and the rail industry to find a negotiated settlement to this dispute, Mr Shapps has politically interfered to prevent a deal.
"Now he is threatening our members with P&O style fire and rehire and the reintroduction of Driver Only Operated services, which will lead to a fall in safety standards and job losses.
"If Mr Shapps proceeds on this course, RMT will use the industrial mandate it has from its 40,000 members in this dispute to take more strike action in the coming weeks and months."
On the threat to bring in minimum service levels on trains during strikes, Mick added: "If these proposals become law, there will be the biggest resistance mounted by the entire trade union movement, rivalling the general strike of 1926, the Suffragettes and Chartism."