General Secretary of RMT Union Defends Rail Strike Plans During Passionate Grilling | GMB

because we are facing the largest

rail

way

strike

in more than 30 years on the 21st, 23rd and 25th of this month of June. We are joined now by the

general

secretary

of the rmt

union

response and that is mick lynch who was on the program. A couple of weeks ago he said that he hoped to avoid this, but it looks like it's going to happen, Mr. Lynch. I'm going to jump right into a question from one of our viewers because it typifies a lot of the reaction we're getting. Tomorrow, I'm someone called ragna. He says the rmt's plan is to cause misery.

My son is a cancer surgeon in London. He won't be able to enter. Now they are replanning and will cancel many operations. he says with bitter irony well done rmt

union

I bet you yourselves are proud of him well he's watching right now what would you say to him? well we don't want to cause misery to anyone, we have a cost of living crisis that you I was just discussing and our members are part of that, they have been working throughout the pandemic, they have kept transport services and

rail

services running, They were praised as heroes by the interns, their transport minister during that period and their The reward for that has been a pay freeze that has lasted two or three years.

We have reached the third anniversary of our pay increase for the majority of our members. We are facing thousands of job cuts and our terms and conditions are set to change. be vandalized in a fire-and-rehire manner that is done internally to the railroad, so we completely regret the disruption. I understand the anger the public will feel. I understand your concern about the disruption, but I also understand the anger of our members and workers. people in

general

about how they are being scammed by their employers and by the government, okay that's your answer to him and to many people have raised similar points, I guess what everyone is really saying is that they are asking .

If the means justify the ends, you of course have the absolute right to

strike

and you have the absolute right to push hard for better wages, conditions, safety and everything else, but in reality you are holding the public hostage. In reality, you are not affecting your bosses, you are affecting ordinary men and women who will not be able to go to work and who will not be able to go on vacation. Also, there are a lot of events happening that week and I suspect that's why. you have chosen that week there is Glastonbury there is a big Elton John concert many other things that will be seriously disrupted and people's pleasure, enjoyment and functionality will be affected basically you are holding the public hostage that is what is happening no we're holding no one hostage i don't follow elton john's schedule all the comings and goings of glastonbury what we face is the lack of a pay rise and the threat of compulsory redundancies across our industry we also face the threat of cuts in safety standards because the railway network is changing the safety regime to reduce inspections and make sure that we can eliminate three thousand jobs of our members who do those safety inspections every day and every night on the railway now.

What it asks us to do is passively accept the destruction of our industry and the loss of jobs and poverty of our members. What's happening in this country, I don't think that's what people are asking for. I'm sorry about the people and the rich, I think a lot of people have enormous sympathy for what you say and what your members are experiencing, but I think people would say don't accept it passively, but please don't provoke the misery you're going to cause, I mean. Richard already mentioned a lot of events, now you know, you could say, well, I don't follow tour dates, but these are businesses, you know, these are huge events that affect thousands of people and businesses that are going to be published, We have already talked. about um, you know other things that will be affected, particularly hospitals, nhs, people going to important appointments, that week is also the last week of gcse and a-level exams, you are going to stop pupils from entering schools , you're going to stop.

Teachers enter schools. You say you don't want to cause misery. You are causing misery. Is there no other way that does not involve going on strike? Well, I'd love to find another way. We have been talking about the negotiation. Well, I know. what negotiation is susannah and I do it every day of the week and I will do it in this dispute and we will look for an agreement that our members can accept we have been talking to these companies for two years about their program they have not put forward a single proposal that addresses the issues of this dispute; you ask us to be passive in the face of our employers' aggression;

They are looking for thousands of job cuts and they and you seem to want us to passively accept that. where workers have done that for the last 20 or 30 years they have been forced to receive a minimum wage they have been forced to reduce their conditions they have been pushed into the gig economy insecure employment flexible working hours, as seen called zero hours contracts, it is Now is the time for workers to stand up for themselves and get a fair deal from this company, these companies and society at large. Well, I opened my question by saying that obviously you have every right to strike and that every worker has the right.

Right to strike. I wonder if it is possible to exercise it. We simply accept their right to take industrial action, but can't they mitigate it a little? How about going slow? Why does it have to be like this? a full strike why not take more moderate measures to make your points go slow are illegal the anti-union laws in this country make everything except overtime bans and strikes almost impossible to carry out a go slow would cause as Continuing Conservative governments have made so much disruption illegal by opening the doors for passengers to travel for free so the companies don't make any money, so why a three day strike why not a one day strike?

I'm just trying to look at finding ways that you can mitigate the misery that you've already admitted that you're going to cause and it's real, we're not making it up, it's going to be horrible because why would we destroy those attacks? A one day attack would do it. It would not cause the government and businesses to sit up and pay attention to our demands and it would also cause this to continue for longer, possibly all summer. We have to get the government to allow these companies to make proper bids. It's Richie. Sunak and Grant Schatz and Boris Johnson who are tying the hands of these employers so they cannot make adequate offers, are imposing austerity on the entire working class and we face forced poverty for many thousands, if not millions, of workers across this economy. and it's about time the British worker got a pay rise and got job security and decent conditions from the British corporations that are discarding them, you know, huge support, that's not the argument, although it is the misery that is caused and you have already done it.

He said that they are holding a three-day strike to exert maximum pressure, well, I didn't say that at all what we are looking for is to have effective industrialization, one day of strike, wouldn't it make sense to have effective industrialization? industrial action, so Susana would not be useless, but if people are looking for a strong union that will represent them effectively at the negotiating table, we will try to do that and if we can get a decent offer from these companies that addresses the problem we will solve in this whole dispute , but we've never realized Lynch, is that you're holding strikes every other day, so it's not just a three-day strike, it's basically a week of misery, well, we keep it effective. industrial elections, that is the job of the unions, to make sure that they apply pressure effectively, that is what we have to do to get companies and the government to pay attention to our demands, do you think there is a possibility that , because the threat is as harsh as what you're clearly describing, you know the goal should be to get employers back to the negotiating table to get it called off.

It's possible. It's possible. We have waited two weeks. Since the outcome of the vote to allow negotiations to take place, I have been in those negotiations myself, there has not been a single offer or even a mention of a concrete offer to address these issues. It's been two years before this and we still have two more weeks before any action takes place, so we need to get around the table and have serious proposals that address the issues. Well, Mick Lynch, thank you.