Friday, March 29

The opposition accuses Johnson of inaction to solve the worst transport strike in three decades


Correspondent in London

Updated:

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson not only does not give its arm to twist before the demands of the strikers that they have paralyzed rail transport in the country, but that it is not even capable of “lifting a finger to find a solution to the conflict, the worst of its kind in three decades. With these words, the leader of the opposition Labor Party, Keir Starmer, accused the prime minister, who in Wednesday’s question session in Parliament, which comes to be control of the government, made it ugly not to be doing his job and for being a “selfish” leader. “Instead of blaming others, why don’t you do your job, sit at the table and make the trains work?” Asked the opponent of the ‘premier’, who entered the rag, condemning in turn Starmer for not having the “courage” to prevent some MPs from his party from giving their support to the striking workers.

The strikes began on Tuesday, and two more 24-hour days have been called this Thursday and next Saturday, while today trains ran only 60%, according to industry data, because many night shift employees did not work, thus causing delays in operations during the day. The unions are demanding an increase in wages from the Johnson government that allows workers to face inflation and stop plans to change the pension system and other labor agreements, in addition to the elimination of more than two thousand jobs.

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A Downing Street spokesman said raising wages in a way that offsets inflation not only for rail workers, but of other public sector employeesas also required by the National Education Union for teachers, would be “reckless”, since, he explained, this would have an impact “by driving inflation higher and higher”, which “means that the salary that people take home is worth less.

Meanwhile, the general population prepares to suffer the consequences of a conflict again that doesn’t seem to have a quick fix in sightwith the parties leaving the negotiating table without achieving any progress.

Union criticism

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, RMT, lashed out at Transport Minister Grant Shapps, accusing him of “screw up negotiations», but the authorities of Network Rail, the public body that manages most of the infrastructure of the rail network in England, Scotland and Wales, assured that it was the unionists who decided not to continue speaking.

“Grant Shapps has ruined these negotiations by not allowing Network Rail to withdraw the letter threatening to lay off 2,900 of our members,” said RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch, who warned that “we will continue” with the strike. until we get a negotiated agreement that provides job security and a pay raise for our members that addresses the growing cost-of-living crisis.” “The RMT continues to stray from the fact that the only ones responsible for this week’s massive (transportation) disruption are them. I want to urge Mick Lynch and the (union) members to stop wasting their time making false claims in the media and instead come back to the bargaining table so an agreement can be reached,” Shapps replied.

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This Thursday, the 50,000 people who have joined the strike they will again ask that their demands be heard with a stoppage that will see “less than one in five trains” run in Britain, and only on main lines.

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