Once again, union bosses are threatening misery and mayhem to people’s lives; this time it’s the RMT and TSSA who, in their own words, are preparing to launch ‘potentially the biggest rail strike in modern history’. The large-scale disruption of such a major strike literally threatens to derail our already fragile supply chain and deepen the cost of living crisis, at a time when we desperately need our workforce on the job and back in the office.
The RMT ballot of its 40,000 members over pay, compulsory redundancies and safety concerns will be completed by Tuesday this week and looks likely to give trade union chiefs a clear mandate for direct strike action. Its actions are doubtless premature and ignore the fact that the railways need modernisation, but the bigger question is surely why, bearing in mind the enormous financial support they receive – including £16bn during the pandemic – has the situation got so bad?
Worse, it is not just the railways that are set to be massively disrupted by walkouts this summer. Universities, airports and even hospitals could be hit by strikes so severe they threaten to grind the country to a halt, on a scale that we haven’t seen since the 1970’s.
The Government’s response thus far amounts to the habitual pleas for dialogue and negotiation, as well as talking up contingency plans. Ministers have also insisted that if the strikes do go ahead, they will bring in legislation to prevent any repeat of a national rail shutdown, though not soon enough to avert any strikes this summer.
So it’s a woeful outlook for freight customers and commuters alike. The most jaw-dropping aspect, however, is the astonishing contract between the Government’s reaction to this these developments compared to their opprobrium towards P&O ferries, when Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and the full weight of government came down heavily in favour of the unions against a business that was trying to save itself. P&O’s decision to make 800 seafarers, of whom most were RMT members, redundant without consultation may have been harsh, but its management knew the RMT would sink their business with industrial action if they did anything else.
Two months on and all but one of the seafarers concerned have now accepted the redundancy deal with P&O to settle the matter, while many have been re-employed on new contracts. It is perplexing that a Conservative minister was thinking of bowing to public pressure and considering restrictive measures against an organisation that failed to consult with the trade unions in a bid to secure its survival. Despite uniting public and government against them, the result is that P&O have been able to protect their remaining 2,200 employees and ensure that a 180-year-old British icon, with 20 ships operating 30,000 routes a year, continues to sail.
The salient point is that this Conservative government cannot hope to succeed in improving industrial relations if it applies double standards.
The public sector remains more prone today to labour disputes and union difficulties than the private sector, and has more trouble in generating good employee relations. The Government therefore needs a coherent strategy to boost the public sector’s status as an employer, whilst pushing through agreed changes to working practices that boost quality and output to reflect the support and investment provided.
At the same time, the more strident union members need to fear that the Government can act decisively, whilst the overwhelming moderate majority needs to believe that ministers genuinely wants to improve employee relations and are prepared to listen to good ideas.
Ultimately, it is the pivotal role of good government to diffuse industrial disputes in a way that benefits consumers, UK businesses and employees.
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