Only 4,500 of the 20,000 travel and train services are running today as part of the big strike today affecting thousands of commuters across the world.
Speaking on Sky News this morning, transport secretary Grant Shapps said government is not going to get involved as it would “make matters worse”, and added that employers are the ones with the mandate and technical details to negotiate.
Shapps, while mentioning other junior doctor, firefighter and postal workers disputes that were resolved without government involvement, said: “This is a stunt, which I’m afraid you’re falling for, by the unions and the Labour party — the Labour party who won’t even condemn these strikes today, and the unions who only last month were saying they would not negotiate with the government, and have suddenly decided, running out of things to say, that they’ll suddenly call on ministers to talk to them and walk in the room with them directly. It wouldn’t resolve anything in fact it would make matters worse and that’s why i’m not in the room.”
ail strikes are going to cost the hospitality industry’s restaurants, pubs and other businesses, £500m in revenue, the CEO of UKHospitality said.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Kate Nicholls said with businesses shutting early, or not opening in response to the rail strikes, hospitality employees also won’t be able to work.
“This strike will also not only have an impact this week, it will hit consumer confidence going forward. And as a result of the pandemic, one in three of our businesses have no cash reserves, one in five have still not returned to making a profit. So they are incredibly fragile and they cannot withstand anymore of these severe economic shocks.”
Twitter came out in support of commuters today:
Solidarity with the @RMTunion today and all days.
Great support here in Morpeth. pic.twitter.com/XNn8wEajaY
— Ian Lavery MP (@IanLaveryMP) June 21, 2022
Good on ya, Nadia#ToryRailStrikes https://t.co/YEqWpdClXr
— RMT (@RMTunion) June 21, 2022
Management double speak alert:
When Andrew Haines (annual salary £585,000 pa) talks about productivity gains, what he actually means is how many jobs they can get rid of, so, if they make 2,900 redundant there will be more money for those that remain. What price safety? https://t.co/GSqC6gAfOs— RMT (@RMTunion) June 21, 2022
The picket line outside Glasgow Central as RMT workers strike
(📸 @MearnsColin)https://t.co/ItVTnOEYzm pic.twitter.com/CcgdNPksF7
— Glasgow Times (@Glasgow_Times) June 21, 2022
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