Transport Secretary Mark Harper has stated “there is a deal to be done” with the rail unions to carry deliberate industrial motion to an finish following a “constructive” assembly with RMT chief Mick Lynch.
Mr Harper stated he and Mr Lynch, the boss of the sector’s greatest union, “had an open and honest conversation about the serious challenges facing the railways” amid the looming strikes and have “common ground”.
“We both want the dispute to end and we both want a thriving railway which delivers for passengers and workers alike. To achieve this though, we need to work together, across the entire industry to ensure our railway industry thrives,” the transport secretary stated in an announcement.
“There is a deal to be done, and I believe we will get there – I want to facilitate the RMT and the employers to reach an agreement and end the dispute for the benefit of the travelling public.”
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Speaking to broadcasters, he added: “So, I think there is a lot of shared agreement there, but we need to have the two sides – the trade unions and the employers – sit down, agree on the detail so that we can bring this dispute to an end.”
Mr Lynch agreed that the assembly was “positive”, telling reporters outdoors the Department for Transport: “We’re now starting to get a dialogue.”
He added that there had been a change in tone from what he referred to as the “bellicose nonsense” from Grant Shapps, who was transport secretary beneath Boris Johnson from July 2019 to September of this yr.
The RMT boss stated Mr Harper had dedicated to writing to him about how he plans to take “forward steps towards a resolution”.
“We want him to set down in writing what he’s going to do about the mechanics of how a resolution will be facilitated,” Mr Lynch stated.
Ahead of at present’s assembly, the transport secretary advised Sky News the federal government is “simply not in a position to pay inflation pay rises”.
Mark Harper advised The Take with Sophy Ridge that he understands why “people facing these cost-of-living pressures want more pay”, however stated if ministers had been to grant this want, “the danger is that we would embed inflation”.
Rail unions should “understand” the significance of getting inflation all the way down to get the financial system again on monitor, he stated.
Earlier this week, Mr Lynch insisted he is “not the Grinch” as he introduced 4 48-hour strikes over Christmas and New Year, saying that there had been no improved provide on jobs, pay and situations.
About 40,000 employees from Network Rail and 14 practice firms are set to strike on 13, 14, 16 and 17 December and three, 4, 6 and seven January.
It means disruption for travellers, employees and consumers within the run-up to Christmas and for individuals returning dwelling after the festive break.
There is also issues on different days as a result of the RMT stated an additional time ban would run from 18 December to 2 January.
The transport secretary warned Sky News that the upcoming strikes are going to be “really disruptive” and can have “a very significant cost”.
The Christmas motion would be the newest in a sequence of rail strikes that started in June and follows RMT members final week voting to proceed placing for an additional six months.
Train drivers who belong to the Aslef union are staging a separate strike this Saturday, hitting providers run by 11 operators, together with Great Western and Southeastern.
Source: information.sky.com”