Minister defends rail disputes technique regardless of monetary hit
R
ail minister Huw Merriman has defended the Government’s stance on strikes, months after admitting that the Government has misplaced more cash as a result of influence of rail strikes than it will have value to settle the disputes months in the past.
In remarks on the Transport Select Committee in January, the Conservative minister mentioned the row with rail unions has “ended up costing more” however insisted the “overall impact” on all public sector pay offers have to be thought of.
Mr Merriman, in an interview with The House journal, mentioned that whereas he “would not deny” there was monetary harm brought on by strike motion, the Government stance was the correct one.
From my very own background, my dad and mom had been each commerce union reps of their office, and I’ve the respect for commerce unions
He additionally denied that ministers’ negotiating stance was pushed by a technique to maintain down the pay of different placing employees.
“From my own background, my parents were both trade union reps in their workplace, and I have the respect for trade unions; their job is to look after their members, I understand that,” he mentioned.
“And so it’s not as if I come at this in any other angle, but one that understands trade unions and respects their movement.”
The minister advised the journal that giving in to unions’ calls for would create a poor instance for different employees.
He mentioned: “If you settle at a much larger figure, then that creates a precedent across the public sector as a whole.
“That impacts inflation, that damages the economy, so you can end up with, settling – which may look on the face of it, would be cheaper to do – [but] ends up having a much bigger financial impact, not just on the railway, but on the economy at large.”
According to the journal, he has additionally used the problem of the monetary harm brought on by strikes in negotiations.
“That is the point I keep making to the union leaders: that if we actually want the railways to be able to sustain and be paid for by the economy, then we have actually got to make sure that there is no economic damage from strikes,” he mentioned.
There was additional journey chaos over the weekend attributable to strikes by practice drivers, because the pay dispute continued.
Rail passengers suffered journey chaos on Friday due to a strike by practice drivers, with disruption persevering with over the weekend amid an escalation of long-running disputes over pay.
Members of the drivers’ union Aslef at 15 practice operators walked out on Friday, whereas employees within the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) held strikes on Saturday.