RMT rejects offer from train operators aimed at preventing further strikes

Published

1 year ago

December 4, 2022

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The RMT has rejected an offer from train operators aimed at preventing strikes over the Christmas period, the union has announced.

The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) said its proposed framework would have supported pay increases of up to 8%, covering 2022 and 2023 pay awards, while delivering much-needed reforms.

But the RMT, led by secretary general Mick Lynch, has turned it down.

The union said: “The RDG is offering 4% in 2022 and 2023 which is conditional on RMT members accepting vast changes to working practices, huge job losses, Driver Only Operated (DOO) trains on all companies and the closure of all ticket offices.”

Mr Lynch added: “We have rejected this offer as it does not meet any of our criteria for securing a settlement on long term job security, a decent pay rise and protecting working conditions.

“The RDG and Department for Transport (DfT), who sets their mandate, both knew this offer would not be acceptable to RMT members.

“If this plan was implemented, it would not only mean the loss of thousands of jobs but the use of unsafe practices such as DOO and would leave our railways chronically understaffed.”

RMT has demanded an urgent meeting with RDG on Monday morning in the hope of trying to resolve the dispute, the union posted on Twitter.

In a statement posted on the RMT website, Mr Lynch said the talks would aim to secure “a negotiated settlement on job security, working conditions and pay.”

It means rail strikes planned during December and early January are still scheduled to go ahead, with commuters facing severe disruption on 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 December, and 3, 4, 6 and 7 January.

Mr Lynch previously insisted “I’m not the Grinch” as he defended the industrial action.

The RDG said it was proposing a “fair and affordable offer in challenging times, providing a significant uplift in salary for staff” which would deliver “vital and long overdue” changes to working arrangements.

The draft framework agreement gives RMT the chance to call off its planned action and put the offer to its membership, a statement said.

“If approved by the RMT, implementation could be fast-tracked to ensure staff go into Christmas secure in the knowledge they will receive this enhanced pay award early in the New Year, alongside a guarantee of job security until April 2024,” an RDG spokesperson said.

“With revenue stuck at 20% below pre-pandemic levels and many working practices unchanged in decades, taxpayers who have contributed £1,800 per household to keep the railway running in recent years will balk at continuing to pump billions of pounds a year into an industry that desperately needs to move forward with long-overdue reforms and that alienates potential customers with sustained industrial action.”

The company called on the union to “move forward with us” so we can “give our people a pay rise and deliver an improved railway with a sustainable, long-term future for those who work on it.”

A bleak winter of strikes

Motorists have also been warned to brace for Christmas chaos after road workers revealed they will down tools for 12 days to coincide with rail walkouts.

National Highways workers, who operate and maintain roads in England, will take part in a series of staggered strikes from 16 December to 7 January, the PCS union said.

A growing list of unions are threatening to grind the country to a halt, putting pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

He is attempting a more constructive, less combative approach with the unions as the government treads a careful line between “being tough but also being human – and treating people with respect”, a government source told Sky News.

Some 10,000 paramedics voted to strike in England and Wales, the GMB union announced this week.

They join up to 100,000 nurses set to walk out in the biggest-ever strike by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland on 15 and 20 December.

On Sunday morning, Conservative Party Chairman Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News’ Sophie Ridge on Sunday the army could be deployed to help ease possible strike disruption over Christmas.

UK

Rishi Sunak says migrants going to Ireland shows Rwanda scheme is working as a deterrent

Published

2 hours ago

April 27, 2024

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Rishi Sunak says migrants going to Ireland shows Rwanda scheme is working as a deterrent

Migrants travelling to Ireland after arriving in the UK on small boats is a sign the Rwanda scheme is already working as a deterrent, Rishi Sunak has said.

Sky News’s Trevor Phillips asked the prime minister if migrants finding their way to Ireland was a sign the UK was “exporting the problem”.

Ireland’s deputy prime minister Micheal Martin said on Friday the threat of being deported to Rwanda had caused an influx of migrants to cross the border from Northern Ireland into the Republic.

In his interview – which will air in full on Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips show tomorrow at 8.30am – Mr Sunak was asked about the comments, saying they illustrated “the deterrent is… already having an impact”.

“People are worried about coming here and that demonstrates exactly what I’m saying,” he said. “If people come to our country illegally, but know that they won’t be able to stay there, they are much less likely to come, and that’s why the Rwanda scheme is so important.”

Downing Street on Friday rebuffed claims the Rwanda plan was already influencing movements into Ireland, saying it was too early to jump to conclusions on its impact.

Mr Sunak said the comments also illustrate “that illegal migration is a global challenge”.

“[That] is why you’re seeing multiple countries talk about doing third country partnerships, looking at novel ways to solve this problem, and I believe will follow where the UK has led,” he said.

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Mr Martin told The Daily Telegraph that the policy was already affecting Ireland, as people were “fearful” of staying in the UK.

Ireland’s deputy prime minister said: “Maybe that’s the impact it was designed to have.”

Mr Martin, who is also Ireland’s foreign minister, said asylum seekers were looking “to get sanctuary here and within the European Union as opposed to the potential of being deported to Rwanda”.

Danger for Sunak if new Act does not stop boats

Jon Craig

Chief political correspondent

@joncraig

On the Safety of Rwanda Bill, which finally became law this week after so-called “ping pong” between the Commons and the House of Lords, Mr Sunak said a deterrent was the only way to stop the boats.

“We did just have an important moment this week that in spite of all the opposition from the Labour Party we have passed the Rwanda bill through Parliament in the face of enormous opposition,” he told Sir Trevor.

“That’s important because the only way to fully solve this problem is to have a deterrent, so that if people come to a country illegally, they’re not able to stay, and we can return them.”

Refugee groups in Ireland admit that the threat of being deported to Rwanda is, as the Irish government claims, driving migrants across the border from Northern Ireland into the Republic.

Nick Henderson of the Irish Refugee Council told Sky News: “As long as there is a Rwanda policy and the Illegal Migration Act which states that somebody can’t lodge an application for asylum in the UK and have it considered if they enter in an irregular way, it’s going to have knock-on effects on Ireland, that’s plain to see.”

Now that the Rwanda legislation has finally become law, Tory MPs believe the PM can no longer blame his political opponents in parliament, in the Commons and the Lords, if it fails to stop the boats.

The danger for Mr Sunak, even his supporters concede, is that even if planes do take off for Rwanda this summer and some migrants head for Ireland, it may not stop the tide of more illegal migrants crossing the channel.

His comments came after Ireland’s justice minister told a committee of the Irish Parliament she estimates more than 80% of migrants in the Republic had crossed from Northern Ireland.

The UK’s prime minister told Trevor Phillips his focus “is on the United Kingdom and securing our border”.

The Safety of Rwanda Bill became an Act on Thursday, with Number 10 announcing the same day that the first deportation plane had been booked.

After a number of setbacks and delays, the bill passed in parliament earlier this week and then received royal assent, with Home Secretary James Cleverly hailing the approval as a “landmark moment in our plan to stop the boats”.

Anticipating the bill’s passage, the prime minister earlier this week promised the first flights would take off in 10 to 12 weeks – “come what may”.

Watch the full interview on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips at 8.30am

UK

Tory MP Dan Poulter defects to Labour over NHS ‘chaos’

Published

4 hours ago

April 27, 2024

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Tory MP Dan Poulter defects to Labour over NHS 'chaos'

Conservative MP and former health minister Dan Poulter has defected to Labour.

The MP for Suffolk Central and Ipswich North, with a majority of 23,321 at the last election, has indicated he is not planning to stand at the next general election.

The defection was revealed in an article on The Observer website, in which the part-time GP outlined why he was switching parties.

He said: “The chaos of today’s fragmented patchwork of community addiction services – making A&E the default location for people to get treatment and help – has added pressure to an already overstretched service.

“The mental toll of a service stretched close to breaking point is not confined to patients and their families. It also weighs heavily on my NHS colleagues who are unable to deliver the right care in a system that simply no longer works for our patients.

“It is this which has led me today to have resigned from the Conservative party to focus on my work as a doctor and to support Keir Starmer.”

He told The Observer the Conservatives had become “a nationalist party of the right” in the last eight years.

“It is not to say all [Tory] MPs are like that,” he said.

“There are good MPs, but it feels that the party is ever moving rightwards, ever presenting a more nationalist position.”

The mental health doctor sent his resignation to the prime minister Rishi Sunak, saying: “After deep reflection and much heart-searching, I have decided, in all professional conscience, that I can no longer continue as a member of the Conservative Party.”

The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer celebrated his defection on social media.

“It’s fantastic to welcome Dr Dan Poulter MP to today’s changed Labour Party,” he said in a post on X.

“It’s time to end the Conservative chaos, turn the page, and get Britain’s future back. I’m really pleased that Dan has decided to join us on this journey.”

Sky’s Jon Craig called the defection a “disastrous blow for the Conservatives and a massive propaganda coup for Labour.”

“Dr Poulter’s defection means the Commons majority of 80, won by Boris Johnson in December 2019, is now just 41, roughly half what it was three-and-a-half years ago,” he added.

“But more than the terrible numbers, bad as they are, it is his threat to support Labour on the NHS in the run-up to the general election that will alarm the Conservatives.”

Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said in a tweet: “Proud to welcome Dr Dan Poulter MP to the @UKLabour Party.

“As a frontline clinician, he’s seen the damage that 14 years of Conservative government have done to our NHS.

“Delighted to have his support and look forward to working with him, especially on mental health reform.”

A Conservative Party spokesperson responded to the resignation by saying: “For the people of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich this will be disappointing news. What Dan says is wrong as Sir Keir Starmer has no plan for our NHS.

“Under the Conservatives we are raising NHS funding to a record £165 billion a year, helping it recover from the effects of the pandemic and driving forward its first ever long-term workforce plan so that we train the doctors and nurses we need for the future in our country.

“Thanks to our plan, we have already virtually eliminated the longest waits and overall waiting lists have fallen by 200,000 in the last five months – and we will go further to make sure everyone gets the world-class care they need.

“This stands in stark contrast to the Welsh NHS – run into the ground by the Welsh Labour Government over the last 25 years which has waiting lists and waiting times way beyond what is being delivered in England.”

UK

Humza Yousaf: Scotland’s first minister claims Holyrood election could be called – as vote of no confidence looms

Published

9 hours ago

April 27, 2024

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Humza Yousaf: Scotland's first minister claims Holyrood election could be called - as vote of no confidence looms

Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf claims a Holyrood election could be called as he refuses to say if he will resign if he loses a looming vote of no confidence.

Speaking exclusively to Sky News in Fife on Saturday, the SNP leader said it was “really disappointing” to learn the Greens will refuse to enter further talks to change their minds on voting against him in a ballot which could prove fatal for his leadership.

Mr Yousaf has today written to all the opposition parties, including Alex Salmond’s Alba party, at Holyrood urging them to rethink their plot to oust him.

The SNP leader said on Saturday that he was leaving it to his rivals to determine his fate.

A Green Party source said the only letter they will accept from the first minister is his resignation.

Mr Yousaf told Sky News: “Well let me say again, that would be really disappointing if that is the Greens’ position.

“As I say, I’ve reached out to them, they are saying publicly that they’re going to support a Conservative motion against independence, first minister and independence government.

“That would be, I think, a poor choice to make.”

Asked if there might be a Scottish election if he doesn’t win the vote, Mr Yousaf replied: “Can’t rule it out.”

The casting vote now looks likely to be Alba MSP Ash Regan who sensationally defected from the SNP in the wake of her defeat in the race to replace Nicola Sturgeon last year.

Sky News understands Alba is holding an emergency meeting this weekend to determine how it will cast the key vote.

When asked how SNP members would feel about being “propped up” by Mr Salmond, Mr Yousaf said: “Let me make it really, really clear, I’ll be sending out to anybody I meet with, whoever comes round that table, that these are the priorities of the SNP minority government.

“This is what we’ll be pursuing, this is what we’ll be pushing. It’ll then be up to be it Ash Regan, be it Lorna Slater, be it Patrick Harvie or any of them, to decide what button they push when it comes to the vote of no confidence.”