RMT union rejects latest ‘dreadful’ pay offers as Mick Lynch vows strikes will continue for ‘as long as it takes’
Tens of thousands of rail workers may return to picket lines after their union rejected revised pay offers to avert more walkouts.
The RMT union had been deliberating over a 5% pay rise, backdated to January last year, along with a 4% hike for 2023.
Train operators and Network Rail called it their “best and final” offer in a bid to end the long-running dispute that has disrupted passenger journeys since June.
There have already been 19 days of strike action and it was hoped that resolutions on the key issues, including job security, were close.
But the RMT called the offer “dreadful” and claimed the changes to working practices would result in “a severe reduction in scheduled maintenance tasks, making the railways less safe, the closure of all ticket offices and thousands of jobs stripped out of the industry when the railways need more investment not less”.
General secretary Mick Lynch said: “We have carried out an in-depth consultation of our 40,000 members and the message we have received loud and clear is to reject these dreadful offers.
“Our members cannot accept the ripping up of their terms and conditions or to have safety standards on the railway put into jeopardy under the guise of so-called modernisation.”
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Exclusive polling commissioned by Sky News shows public support for trade unions is rising, even though strike action is bringing many public services to a standstill.
The RMT said it will begin to make preparations for a re-ballot when the existing strike mandate runs out in May, meaning walkouts could continue for the rest of the year.
In the meantime, the union said it will seek further meetings with Network Rail and the Rail Delivery Group to try to achieve a negotiated settlement.
Strikes will continue ‘for as long as it takes’
Mr Lynch warned: “It is now time for the employers and the government to listen to railway workers in their tens of thousands.
“Our industrial campaign will continue for as long as it takes to get a negotiated settlement that meets our members’ reasonable expectations on jobs, pay and working conditions.”
While the RMT said it had consulted all its members, the government and industry leaders deplored the union for not putting the offer to a vote, with the rejection made by the union’s national executive committee.
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Rejection ‘kick in the teeth’ for passengers
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “The RMT’s rejection of these best and final offers is a kick in the teeth for passengers across the country and their own members, who having been ordered to take strike action are now being blocked from having a say on their own future.
“The RMT’s leaders should have had the courage to allow their own members to have the chance to vote on their own pay and conditions, rather than making that decision for them behind closed doors.”
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents train operating companies, said the pay offer was a 13% rise over two years for the lowest paid “which they will now miss out on without even having had an opportunity to have their say”.
A spokesperson said that “having listened to the union’s concerns during recent negotiations, we went back to the table with substantial changes”, including a minimum 9% pay rise over two years and the removal of driver-only operation trains (DOO).
While pay has been a central issue in the dispute, the union strongly opposes DOOs and any “modernisation” reforms that could lead to cuts and threaten job security.
But the government and industry have maintained that a pay increase would have to be funded by “reforms” which they say are vital for the railways’ long-term survival.
The RDG spokesperson said: “We remain willing to engage, but the RMT leadership must now accept the urgent need to make the railway fit for the future for both our people, and the communities the railway serves.”
‘Wasted year’
The new offer was put to the union after the transport secretary gave train operating companies a “revised mandate” to go into negotiations, insisting there had been “big changes” in the government’s approach since he took over the role from Grant Shapps.
Labour said Mr Harper’s remarks showed there had been “a wasted year” under the previous transport secretary, who “refused to engage or even meet with unions” when the strikes began in 2022.
Mr Harper insisted today’s offers on pay and reform were “fair and reasonable”, adding: “It is now clear that no realistic offer is ever going to be good enough for the RMT leadership.”
On top of the rail strikes, the government continues to battle with a wave of public sector walkouts from nurses, ambulance workers, teachers, civil servants and others, all seeking a better deal over pay as inflation bites.
Protesters have stormed the headquarters of two major newspapers in Bangladesh, amid widespread unrest following the death of a political activist.
A mob set fire to the offices of the Bengali-language Prothom Alo daily newspaper and the English-language Daily Star in the capital Dhaka, leaving journalists and other staff stuck inside.
The Bengali-language Prothom Alo daily was one of the two newspapers that were targeted. Pic: AP.
One of the Daily Star’s journalists, Zyma Islam, wrote on Facebook: “I can’t breathe anymore. There’s too much smoke.”
Both dailies stopped updating their online editions after the attacks and did not publish broadsheets on Friday.
Troops were deployed to the Star building and firefighters had to rescue the journalists trapped inside. The blaze was brought under control early on Friday.
The latest protests erupted a year after the July Revolution ousted PM Sheikh Hasina. Pic: PA.
Political activist Sharif Osman Hadi died in hospital late on Thursday, six days after the youth leader was shot while riding on a rickshaw in Dhaka.
Bangladesh’s interim government urged people on Friday to resist violence as police and paramilitary troops fanned out
across the capital and other cities following the protests overnight. They have sparked concerns of fresh unrest ahead of national elections, which Mr Hadi had been due to stand in.
He was a prominent activist in the political uprising last year that forced the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee the country. Mr Hadi spent six days on life support in a hospital in Singapore before he succumbed to his injuries.
Mr Hadi died a week after he was shot by a man on a motorbike. Pic: PA.
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets following news of Mr Hadi’s death on Thursday night, where they rallied at Shahbagh Square near the Dhaka University campus, according to media reports.
A group of demonstrators gathered outside the head office of the Muslim-majority country’s leading Bengali-language Prothom Alo daily, before vandalising the building and setting it on fire.
A few hundred yards away, another group of protesters pushed into the Daily Star offices and set fire to the building. The protesters are believed to have targeted the papers for their alleged links with India and closeness to Bangladesh‘s interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus.
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Although calm had returned to much of the country on Friday morning, protesters carrying national flags and placards
continued demonstrating at Shahbagh Square in Dhaka, chanting slogans and vowing not to return until justice was served.
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Last year’s mass uprising erupted from student protests against a quota system that awarded 30% of government jobs to relatives of veterans.
The July 2024 protest, which resulted in as many as 1,400 deaths according to the United Nations, was dubbed the first “Gen Z” revolution.
Bangladesh’s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed was forced to resign in August 2024 and fled to India. She was later sentenced to death in absentia.
Sheikh Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia. Pic: AP
Dr Yunus was then sworn in as interim leader.
The country’s Islamists and other opponents of Ms Hasida have accused her government for being subservient to India.
Mr Hadi was a fierce critic of Ms Hasina and neighbouring India.
He had planned to run as an independent candidate in a constituency in Dhaka at the next national elections due to be held in February.
Authorities said they had identified the suspects in Mr Hadi’s shooting, and the assassin was also likely to have fled to India. Two men on a motorbike followed Hadi and one opened fire before they fled the scene.
TikTok is being threatened with legal action over cuts to its UK online safety teams.
In August, the social media company announced more than 400 workers would lose their jobs, with AI replacing some of the workers and other jobs being rehired abroad.
TikTok is being accused of threatening those safety workers with redundancy days before they were due to vote on forming a union.
Read more: TikTok moderators warn users may be at risk
Now, two moderators have sent a legal letter to TikTok laying out the terms of a potential legal case on grounds of unlawful detriment and automatic unfair dismissal.
Unlawful detriment is when an employer treats a worker unfairly because they used a protected employment right, for example, being a union representative, asking for flexible working or whistleblowing about the company.
“In June, TikTok said it was going to hire hundreds more content moderators, then two months later, they fired everyone,” said Stella Caram, head of legal at Foxglove, a non-profit supporting the moderators.
“What changed? Workers exercised their legal right to try to form a trade union. This is obvious, blatant and unlawful union-busting,” she said.
Moderators gathered to protest the redundancies in London
TikTok has been given one month to respond to the legal claim.
A TikTok spokesperson said: “We once again strongly reject this baseless claim.
“These changes were part of a wider global reorganisation, as we evolve our global operating model for Trust and Safety with the benefit of technological advancements to continue maximising safety for our users.”
As well as Foxglove, the two moderators launching the case are working with the United Tech & Allied Workers (UTAW), part of the Communication Workers’ Union, and law firm Leigh Day.
In exclusive interviews last month, three whistleblowers told Sky News the cuts would put UK users at risk, a claim repeated by Julio Miguel Franco, one of the moderators behind the legal action.
“TikTok needs to tell the truth,” he said.
“When it says AI can do our job of keeping people safe on TikTok, it knows that’s rubbish.
“Instead, they want to steal our jobs and send them to other countries where they can pay people less and treat them worse. The end result is TikTok becomes less safe for everyone.”
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Internal documents seen by Sky News show that TikTok planned to keep its human moderators in London for at least the rest of 2025.
The documents lay out the increasing need for dedicated moderators because of the growing volume and complexity of moderation.
TikTok’s head of governance, Ali Law, also told MPs in February that “human moderators … have to use their nuance, skills and training” to be able to moderate hateful behaviour, misinformation and misleading information.
Dame Chi Onwurah speaks at the House of Commons. File pic: Reuters
After a series of letters between TikTok and MPs, Dame Chi Onwurah, chair of the science and technology select committee, said she was “deeply” concerned about the cuts.
“There is a real risk to the lives of TikTok users,” she said.
Last month, in an exclusive sitdown with Sky News, however, Mr Law said user safety would not be compromised.
“We set a high benchmark when it comes to rolling out new moderation technology.
“In particular, we make sure that we satisfy ourselves that the output of existing moderation processes is either matched or exceeded by anything that we’re doing on a new basis.
“We also make sure the changes are introduced on a gradual basis with human oversight so that if there isn’t a level of delivery in line with what we expect, we can address that.”
Australia is set to launch a national gun buyback scheme in response to the Bondi Beach terrorist shootings.
Fifteen people were killed and dozens wounded on Sunday at the Sydney beach after two gunmen opened fire at people celebrating Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights.
In the aftermath of the shooting, which authorities say appears to have been inspired by the Islamic State, patrols and policing across the country have been ramped up in an effort to prevent further violence.
Both the federal government and the state government of New South Wales, where Sydney is located, have pledged reforms, including tightening gun control laws, to prevent the threat of further violence in a nation with an estimated four million firearms.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said the government would also strengthen hate laws. Announcing the gun buyback scheme, he cited the response to a previous Australian mass shooting – when a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania’s Port Arthur in 1996.
“Australia’s gun laws were last substantially reformed in the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy,” Mr Albanese said on Friday. “The terrible events at Bondi show we need to get more guns off our streets.”
Surfers and swimmers hold a tribute at Bondi Beach on 19 December. Pic: AP
On Friday, Australia’s Jewish community gathered at Bondi Beach for prayers, while hundreds of swimmers and surfers made a huge circle in the sea to honour the victims.
“Over the past two years, there’s been a lot of people who have been questioning whether we’re still welcome here in Australia because we saw people calling for our death on the streets on a weekly basis,” Rabbi Yosef Eichenblatt from Sydney’s Central Synagogue told ABC News, after attending the paddle-out tribute.
Funerals for the victims also continued today, with Boris and Sofia Gurman, a couple killed after attempting to stop one of the gunmen, being laid to rest.
Meanwhile, Ahmed al Ahmed, the hero who wrestled a gun from one of the alleged gunmen, was handed a cheque for more than A$2.5m (£1.23m) from an online fundraiser.
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Floral tribute at Bondi Beach on 19 December. Pic: AP
One of the Bondi terrorists – Sajid Akram, 50, who was killed at the scene – held a firearm licence and had six guns registered.
If a man in Sydney’s suburbs needs “six high-powered rifles and is able to get them under existing licensing schemes, then there’s something wrong,” Mr Albanese said.
He said the government would work with states to target surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms, adding that the costs would be shared between the federal and state governments.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns announced on Friday the state government would be recalled next week to enact the “toughest gun law reforms in the country”.
Changes would include limiting firearms to four per person, tightening licensing requirements and restricting access to high-risk weapons and components.
Following the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, Australia secured the surrender of about 640,000 prohibited firearms nationwide. The total cost of compensation to owners was about A$304m (£150m).
Mr Albanese has faced pressure from critics who say his centre-left government has not done enough to deal with a surge in antisemitism since the start of the war in Gaza.
The government said it had consistently called out antisemitism over the last two years and passed legislation to criminalise hate speech.
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