Grant Shapps slams rail union as strike commences

• The RMT union has announced three days of strike action on Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday.
• Transport Secretary Grant Shapps accused union leaders of “dragging the country back to the 1970s”.
• Labour’s Louise Haigh accused Shapps of failing to intervene in the negotiations.

Grant Shapps, transport secretary, criticized the RMT union for its decision to engage in strike action on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. “This will cause misery and chaos for millions of commuters,” Shapps told members of parliament, accusing union leaders of “dragging the country back to the 1970s.”

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On the eve of the largest rail strikes in Britain in 30 years, which are expected to wreak disruption over the upcoming week, the nation’s political leaders exchanged blame in the House of Commons.

Shapps reiterated his threat to implement “minimum service criteria” to prevent future disruptions, stating that such agreements were commonplace in nations such as France and Belgium.

“My message to the workforce is straightforward, your union bosses have got you striking under false pretences, rather than protecting your jobs, they are actually endangering them and the railways’ future,” he told the Commons.

However, Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, attributed the interruption to the government’s failure to intervene in the negotiations.

“The entire country is going to be ground to a halt but…the secretary of state is washing his hands of any responsibility,” she told the Commons.

“On the eve of the biggest rail dispute in a generation, taking place under his watch, he is not lifting a finger to resolve it….this is a grave dereliction of duty.”

Haigh accused Shapps of “tied the hands of those at the table” by failing to authorize employers to negotiate.

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However, the transport secretary stated that it was never the government’s role to engage in strike negotiations, but rather an issue for business and labor leaders.