RMT chief claims strikes have been ‘a success’ despite not having achieved any ‘pay deal’ in almost a year

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union general secretary Mick Lynch has claimed that the strikes has been “a success” despite not having achieved any “pay deal” in almost a year.

Speaking at London Euston station on Friday at the picket line Lynch said, “We’ve pushed them back on all the stuff they wanted to do.

“They wanted to make thousands of our people redundant, they wanted to shut every booking office in Britain, restructure our engineering workers, cut the catering service.

“So we’ve pushed them back on that, they haven’t been able to implement any of their plans.

“What we haven’t got is a pay deal, we haven’t got any guarantees on our members’ futures but we have stopped them doing the worst aspects of their proposals and their ideas.

“It has been a success, our members are still with us, they’ve had three ballots to continue with the strike action under the law.

“Other people seem to have been inspired to fight back and take action in their own industries, so it has been a success and it’s put trade unions back on the map in Britain.”

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents train operators, said: “The RMT leadership must recognise the way our passengers use the railway has changed for good, and work with us to adapt so we can​ secure the long-term future of an industry.

“The only thing they have achieved is continuing to take money out of their members’ pockets, inflicting misery on thousands of people and damaging an industry which is vital to Britain’s economy and their own members’ livelihoods.

“We urge the RMT leadership to engage seriously with the financial challenges the industry faces, agree between them what they want from the negotiation and come back to the table, so we can resolve this dispute for the sake of everyone who relies on the railway.”

He added: “There have been three pay deals offered which the RMT executive have reneged despite their negotiators in the room agreeing the terms.

“We’ve said all along we just want railway workers to have their say on the fair and affordable offer of up to a 13% rise over two years, plus guarantees on job security.”