Astronomers watch Betelgeuse recover after colossal blast

What's making this red supergiant's millennium?

By Elisha Sauers on August 13, 2022
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An illustration depicts changes in Betelgeuse's brightness following a massive 2019 explosion observed by astronomers. Credit: NASA / ESA / Elizabeth Wheatley (STScI)

Just like the mischievous Tim Burton character of the same name, the red supergiant star Betelgeuse's head shrank.

Scientists watched the star blast its outer surface into space in 2019, an unexpected cosmic event they had never seen before in a normal star. The eruption was so catastrophic, it blew off 400 billion times as much material as the sun does routinely in ejections linked to solar flares, according to the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

What's more, the star got so dim, even backyard stargazers noticed. That left many people wondering if Betelgeuse [indeed pronounced "Beetlejuice"] was on the brink of an explosive stellar death.

It's not about to go supernova, experts say. But new observations from the Hubble Space Telescope are helping astronomers understand how red stars like Betelgeuse lose mass as they age — and what consequences follow such a significant eruption. Because the scale of the blowout was vastly greater than the plasma that occasionally spews from the sun's corona, scientists suspect what happened to Betelgeuse might be a different sort of phenomenon.

"We're watching stellar evolution in real time," Andrea Dupree of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said in a statement.

For Betelgeuse, one of the brightest stars in the night sky, that has meant the blown-off material cooled and formed a dust cloud. The haze is what some believe temporarily blocked light from the star, making it look fainter from Earth, according to research published in The Astrophysical Journal last week.

Referred to as the "Great Dimming," the cloud seems to have obscured the light for a year before the star returned to normal brightness.

The outburst also disrupted the star’s 400-day-long pulsing period, a cycle astronomers have measured for over two centuries. It looks as though the outer layers may be back to normal, but the inside could be jiggling like Jell-O. Or, as Dupree put it, sloshing like water in an imbalanced washing machine.

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Credit: Alan Dyer / VW PICS / Universal Images Group Via Getty Images

Johnson & Johnson will stop selling talc-based baby powder around the world in 2023

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business
August 12, 2022


New York (CNN Business)Johnson & Johnson is abandoning talc-based baby powder next year and instead will make it with cornstarch.

Its talc-based powder, which hasn't been sold in the United States and Canada since 2020, is at the center of tens of thousands of lawsuits filed by women who have developed ovarian cancer after using regular talcum powder

Johnson & Johnson says it remains confident in the safety of the product. But, in a statement Friday, the company said it would stop selling talc-based powder around the world next year as part of a "worldwide portfolio assessment."

"We continuously evaluate and optimize our portfolio to best position the business for long-term growth," the company said in a statement. "This transition will help simplify our product offerings, deliver sustainable innovation, and meet the needs of our consumers, customers and evolving global trends."

A handful of talcum powder companies have put warning labels on their products, but Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) argued such a label would be confusing, because it stood by its product. Some scientific studies have shown that women have an increased risk of ovarian cancer with talc use in the genital area, but others do not.

Lawsuits have been filed against the company alleging that asbestos in its talcum powder causes cancer. A St. Louis jury delivered a $4.7 billion verdict against the company in 2018, saying the company was negligent and did not warn consumers about possible health risks from its baby powder.

"Our position on the safety of our cosmetic talc remains unchanged. We stand firmly behind the decades of independent scientific analysis by medical experts around the world that confirms talc-based Johnson's Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer," it said in Friday's announcement.

Artificial cornea made from pig collagen gives legally blind 20/20 vision

This cheap and safe procedure could revolutionize how we treat some forms of visual impairment.

 by Tibi Puiu
August 12, 2022
in Health & Medicine

Doctors transplanted artificial corneas made from pig collagen into the eyes of visually impaired patients, some of whom had eyesight so bad that they were legally blind. But two years following the surgery, all the patients saw dramatic improvements in vision, including three patients who now have 20/20 vision after being legally blind.

The cornea implant is made from pig skin collagen. 

Credit: Thor Balkhed/Linköping University.

The Iranian and Indian patients all suffered from an eye disease called keratoconus, a condition in which the cornea (the clear, dome-shaped front surface of your eye) thins and gradually bulges outward into a cone shape. The disease affects up to 2 out of 1,000 people and often requires surgery to remove a full-thickness portion of the malfunctioned central cornea and replace it with donor tissue. But as you might imagine, there aren’t many cornea donors around, and only 1 out of every 70 people in need of one actually receive one.

If there are no donors, that means we’ll just have to make our own corneas, researchers at Linköping University in Sweden must have thought. They dissolved pig skin tissue to extract collagen, purified it, then used it to make a hydrogel that essentially mimics the human cornea. The hydrogel was inserted into pockets of the patient’s cornea to thicken it out and reshape it to restore the cornea’s function — and it worked.

Most of the patients improved their average visual acuity to 20/58 with glasses, meaning they need to be 20 feet away to see an object that people can normally see from 58 feet away. Not the best eyesight, but still light-years ahead of what they could see. Three of the patients even gained 20/20 vision, meaning they now have the clarity or sharpness of vision of a “normal” person, after they used to be legally blind (20/200 vision).

Two years after surgery, the patients still retained these improvements. And although their corneas now technically contain foreign biological material, because collagen is a structured protein that lacks individual cells, the patient’s immune system didn’t reject the implant.

“Fourteen of 14 initially blind subjects had a final mean best-corrected vision (spectacle or contact lens) of 20/36 and restored tolerance to contact lens wear. This work demonstrates restoration of vision using an approach that is potentially equally effective, safer, simpler, and more broadly available than donor cornea transplantation,” the authors wrote in their study.

Pig skin-sourced collagen is a byproduct of the food industry, and is thus broadly available and cheap. Although eye surgery sounds complicated and risky, the operation only took about 30 minutes per patient, whereas conventional cornea transplants from human donors can take a couple of hours. Doctors aren’t sure how much the surgery would end up costing, but what they’re certain of is that it should be more affordable than donor transplants, which can cost north of $25,000 in the U.S., depending on your insurance plan.

It’s not at all clear at the moment, however, if this procedure would work for patients who have other forms of corneal disease other than keratoconus. Some patients, for instance, have corneal scarring from bacterial or viral infections. Will it work for them too? These sorts of questions may be hopefully answered in the affirmative once the researchers receive approval for new trials. At the moment, they are focused on replicating the present results in a much larger sample of 100 patients.

The new findings appeared in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

CRIMINAL CRYPTO CAPITALI$M

Tornado Cash: TORN dips after reported developer arrest

By: Benson Toti
on Aug 12, 2022

Tornado Cash token TORN price fell by more than 16% after news the Dutch police had arrested a developer.

The 29-year old held by the Dutch authorities has been identified as Alexy Pertsev.
The US Treasury sanctioned the crypto mixer earlier this week.

Tornado Cash (TORN), a decentralised crypto mixer platform built on top of Ethereum (ETH/USD) has seen its price fall significantly over the past 24 hours following the arrest of Alexey Pertsev, a developer associated with the platform.

According to data on CoinGecko, the TORN token’s price is down more than 16% in the past 24 hours to trade around $14.25 on Friday evening. The declines for the TORN/USD pair saw it touch lows of $13.00 earlier in the day, before briefly pushing higher amid a broader market upside that currently has Bitcoin (BTC/USD) above $24,200 and ETH/USD above $1,920.

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Tornado Cash developer arrested

On Friday, Dutch authorities announced the arrest of a man (later identified in a report by The Block to be Alexey), stating that he was part of the Tornado Cash team.

The Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) said in its statement that the 29-year-old was part of a wider group being targeted for their role in the sanctioned crypto transaction privacy solution.

Noting that the arrest was made on 10 August, FIOD said the suspect was being held for his “involvement in concealing criminal financial flows and facilitating money laundering through the mixing of cryptocurrencies.”

And while FIOD’s arrest follows an investigation the agency says began in June, its timing coincides with a recent move by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that sanctioned the Ethereum-based crypto mixing protocol.

According to the US agency, sanctions against Tornado Cash are as a result of its use by criminals to launder cybercrime proceeds, including over $96 million and $7.8 million from the hack of Harmony Bridge and Nomad Bridge respectively.

Several within the crypto industry have condemned the arrest of the developer, with many seeing this as an unjustified action. Jake Chervinsky, head of policy at Blockchain Association tweeted about it on Thursday.

Reportedly, the Tornado Cash Discord channel and DAO website are down.

CDC Introduces Streamlined Guidelines For Better COVID-19 Protection, Understanding

Aug 13, 2022 02:30 AM By Luigi Caler

VIDEO

CDC Relaxes COVID-19 Quarantine And Testing Guidelines: What To Know

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has streamlined its COVID-19 guidance to help the public better protect themselves from the risk of catching the novel coronavirus at this point of the pandemic.

The public health agency made some changes to its guidelines to ensure that everyone would be up to date regarding the preventive measures available against COVID-19. As the novel coronavirus continues to be a global problem, the CDC wants the public to be better equipped with more relevant information about the disease and the tools available to combat it.

The first guideline the CDC introduced continued to promote the importance of having up-to-date vaccines to prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and death. Since the efficacy of the vaccines diminishes over time, the agency said people should get the newer vaccines when they become eligible.

Another recommendation from the agency said people should opt to wear a high-quality mask for ten days and get tested on day 5 instead of quarantining when exposed to someone with COVID-19. The CDC maintained that regardless of vaccination status, one should isolate when they test positive for the virus.

Upon testing positive, the CDC advised staying home for at least 5 days and isolating from other people in the household during the period. This is because a person is usually most infectious during the first 5 days of infection. Wearing a mask around other people at home is strongly encouraged.

For people with moderate COVID or severe illness, the CDC recommended isolating for ten days. The same recommendation was given to people who have a weakened immune system.

For those who developed the severe form of the disease, it is imperative to consult with a doctor before ending isolation. This is because ending isolation without a viral test is not a good option for this type of case.

If COVID-19 symptoms worsened after one’s isolation ended, they need to restart their isolation at day 0. They also need to talk to a healthcare provider if they have questions about when to end their isolation.

"We’re in a stronger place today as a nation, with more tools—like vaccination, boosters, and treatments—to protect ourselves, and our communities, from severe illness from COVID-19," said Greta Massetti, Ph.D., MPH, an author of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

She added, "We also have a better understanding of how to protect people from being exposed to the virus, like wearing high-quality masks, testing, and improved ventilation. This guidance acknowledges that the pandemic is not over, but also helps us move to a point where COVID-19 no longer severely disrupts our daily lives.”

UK
The workers’ revolt at Amazon keeps spreading
Coordinated action between official and unofficial strikes would send a strong message to the bosses and Tories

Bristol Amazon workers added to the wave of wildcat strikes on Thursday

 (Picture: Twitter/@walkout20201)

The revolt at Amazon goes on—workers struck and held a sit-in at the Bristol BRS1 centre on Thursday morning. Workers also walked out on Thursday at the BHX1 Site in Rugeley.

Wildcat walkouts, slowdowns and strikes at Amazon fulfilment centres have continued in several areas despite intimidation from managers and bosses. Dave*, who works at the BHX4 fulfilment centre in Coventry, told Socialist Worker, “Managers were telling us if we do protest, we won’t be paid from the minute we leave our work areas.”

He added that managers are even trying to use “divide and rule” tactics, to ensure that workers don’t take action.

“Managers are telling some workers they’ll be rewarded if they keep working. Some are also being given easier jobs than others. Of course, people are getting rattled by this.

“I feel like the managers are trying to get us to go against each other instead of the issue of pay.”

But despite all this, Dave said that workers still want to fight as conditions worsen at Amazon.

“People are still angry,” he said. “The British arm of Amazon made £20 billion between January and June this year.

“Things have got a lot worse since Jeff Bezos decided he wants to play astronaut. The new CEO has no idea what goes on in the warehouses. And this lack of care plays out in our fulfilment centre in Coventry.

“On Wednesday a staff member had to be taken away in an ambulance, but the board didn’t count it as an incident.

“This job is slowly becoming a rapid descent into hell, but most of us can’t afford to leave,” he added.

Workers at the Coventry and Tilbury deports sparked a wave of sit-ins and walkouts last week after hearing they would not receive a pay rise of more than 35p or 50p an hour.

In several depots, workers have now been told they won’t receive a pay rise at all. Anger at this news quickly spread to other fulfilment centres, from Bristol to Leicester, and turned into action. More than 200 workers at the depot in Swindon struck and protested in the canteen on Monday of this week.

One worker said, “The management has announced they won’t approve the pay rise or change their decision and say they can’t help us.

“Amazon is a very profitable company, and we deserve fair pay. Just 35p is next to nothing in a situation like this. That works out to £700 a year, which will cover maybe two months of energy bills.

“It’s worrying me because mortgage rates have gone up, as has the price of fuel, groceries and energy. We have families—how will we pay the bills?

At fulfilment centres in Dartford, Tilbury, Belvedere, Hemel Hempstead, Chesterfield and Rugeley, workers took part in “slowdowns” this week.

This means that they picked only one package an hour.

Dave said he expects a new wave of anger in Coventry and elsewhere when the new “pay rise” comes into operation next month.

“Hopefully once September comes and we actually see how badly we’ve been screwed with the “raise”. That’s when it really starts,” he added.

Dave and other Amazon workers are making it clear that they won’t allow this corporate giant to get away with paying them pennies anymore. Workers must keep putting pressure on Amazon, escalate strikes and call for staff in more fulfilment centres to join them.

Amazon workers joining a coordinated strike of bus drivers, rail workers, BT workers and Royal Mail workers, who all have mandates to strike, would send a strong message to the bosses and the Tories.

Dave is a pseudonym 

SOCIALIST WORKER

UK

Grangemouth oil refinery workers stage solid wildcat strike
Strikers vow to return to the picket line every two weeks in a defiant stand against the bosses

Solid picket lines at Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland

Hundreds of oil refinery workers in Grangemouth, Scotland, have downed tools and stormed out on unofficial strike demanding a pay increase.

Around 250 workers joined a picket line outside the Grangemouth refinery, a petrochemical plant owned by a joint venture between PetroChina and billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group.

The workers from five different contractors stood across the A904 road, temporarily blocking tankers from accessing the industrial site. The action was in response to the Engineering Construction Industry Association’s (ECIA) “refusal to recognise the cost of living crisis”.

The picket line developed into a protest with marching workers carrying a banner reading, “ECIA let’s talk.”

Grangemouth refinery supplies over 60 percent of the petrol and diesel for forecourts in Scotland. Last year Ineos Group recorded gross profits of £2.95 billion.

But workers for contractors at the plant have received just a 2.5 percent pay rise back in January and are set to receive another meagre 2.5 percent pay rise next year. With inflation at 11.8 percent and set to rise up to 15 percent next year, workers will suffer a big real terms pay cut.

The strikers have vowed to return to picket lines every two weeks until a new pay deal is accepted.

The Grangemouth action was part of a protest at around 20 sites across Britain over pay for engineering construction workers covered by the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI). Workers came out in particularly big numbers at Humber Refinery in North Lincolnshire, owned by energy group Phillips 66, and at the Valero refinery in Milford Haven.

The Graqngemouth workers distributed a leaflet that read, “Some of us worked throughout the pandemic to keep the country running, some of us were made redundant. We accepted changes to the agreement and took a pay freeze to help the employers and to keep the industry moving during lockdown.

“Now we are asking the ECIA to come back to the negotiating table because of these once in a lifetime events. So far, they have point blank refused. We cannot allow this cavalier attitude to continue.”

The Grangemouth workers have a history of militancy. Having suffered a terrible defeat in 2013 it’s great to see the workers once more making a stand.

Ineos threatened to close the plant and cut 800 jobs. The Unite union accepted some cuts. Workers lost their final salary pension scheme, and bosses imposed a three-year pay freeze and worse contracts. Others fared worse and lost their jobs.

Unite also accepted not to strike for at least three years. The spirit at the plant, which has been rebuilt by actions since 2013, now is great to see.

MASS STRIKE

UK

As union announces four Royal Mail strikes, let’s strike together

Union leaders must seize this opportunity to unite strikes and make Friday 26 August a day of action for the whole working class

SOCIALIST WORKER
Tuesday 09 August 2022


Postal workers, like these ones in Wantage, voted for action in vast numbers

Around 115,000 postal workers in Royal Mail are set to strike for four days in August and September. Their action should be a focus to build massive strikes to transform the present scale of resistance over pay and against the Tories.

On Tuesday the Royal Mail workers’ CWU union announced strikes on Friday 26 August, Wednesday 31 August and Thursday 8 and Friday 9 September.

It follows bosses’ imposition of a below-inflation “rise” of 2 percent. And that’s even more poisonous after the company has recently announced a £758 million profit, paid £400 million to shareholders and handed millions to its executives.

In response workers voted 98 percent for strikes on a 77 percent turnout.

Jane Loftus, vice-president and postal chair of the CWU, told Socialist Worker, “It’s outrageous that Royal Mail, a company awash with profits and handing millions to its top bosses, wants to cut the pay of the workforce in real terms.

“Everywhere now people are saying they have had enough and aren’t going to take this sort of treatment anymore.

“We want our pay strikes to be an encouragement to others to fight. Royal Mail management may well act in a ruthless way, but the CWU can beat them if we use all our strength. We’re looking for support and solidarity from workers everywhere.”

There is now a tremendous potential to unite strikes and make 26 August a focus for the whole working class. Well over 200,000 workers could come out that day—and that’s just the ones with live strike votes now.

If they move in the next 48 hours to give the necessary notice, the RMT, Aslef and TSSA unions on Network Rail, the train operating companies, the London Underground and the Overground could all stop that day. That’s over 50,000 workers.

Add in BT and Openreach—another 40,000 workers also in the CWU—who could be out. Then there are the Post Office Limited counters and cash distribution workers. Then there are local strikes at several bus companies. There are bin workers, health workers and even barristers who are in dispute and could strike.

Around 2,000 workers at Felixstowe—Britain’s biggest container port—have already announced a strike from 21-29 August. So they could be part of it as well.

With Royal Mail, the total is well over 200,000 workers. That would really shake up bosses and the Tories, and it isn‘t against the anti-union laws.

It can go much further. It should be a day for the whole working class. Union leaders must appeal for everyone to join in, come to rallies and marches and, if possible, strike. Make it a big all-union push for action at Amazon and Uber and all the other places where people are seething for action.

A united day could kick off strike ballots in the NHS, the universities, local government, the civil service and other parts of the public sector.

The 26 August is also the day when Ofgem, the energy regulator, announces the next price rises in gas and electricity that will be applied in October. So as well as the pay strikes, the rallies and marches can be open to everyone who wants resistance to the deadly scale of price rises.

It could focus climate change campaigners and anti-racists around the powerful core of working class action.

Friday 26 August should be Fightback Friday for every worker. The only thing that will stop it from happening is if the union leaders don’t act quickly. If they don’t get it together for 26 August, they must be pushed to create united action on one of the other Royal Mail strike days.

They must be pressured to build the individual sets of strikes but also to come together and to lay the basis for even bigger action by millions.

Striking rail workers say everyone should join fight

Discontent with poverty pay and terrible conditions is leading workers to take action and strike for better

Aslef strike in Leeds (Picture: Neil Terry).

The rail network is set to grind to a halt on Saturday, with around 6,000 train drivers ­planning to strike across nine train operating companies. In their battle for better pay, the members of the Aslef union are ­showing no sign of backing down—and now more workers are ready to join the fight.

Aslef members at four more ­operating companies are currently balloting for action. Strikes by train drivers will add to the mounting pressure on the bosses and the Tories. Next week sees bigger waves of action. Rail workers across Network Rail and 14 train operating companies are preparing to strike on Thursday 18 and Saturday 20 August.

It’s a battle to save jobs, protect safety and win a pay rise that beats inflation. Andy, a Network Rail worker from east London and member of the RMT union, told Socialist Worker that strikers are “ready to win.”

“The cost of living is pushing ­everyone to strike,” he said. “And that’s right. We need fair pay—there are people who I work with who no longer have enough money to raise their kids or pay rent or bills.”

Adam is a catering worker for train operating company LNER in Northumbria. He told Socialist Worker, “The mood is strong, full of hope and optimism for a victory. “There is a worry about the loss of earnings and the cost of living crisis. Fundraisers are planned to build a hardship fund for strikers, to keep them on the picket lines.”

Strikes on Network Rail will be boosted by around 10,400 London Underground and Overground workers who plan to strike on Friday 19 August in two disputes over jobs, pay and safety.

Train managers in the TSSA union and electronic control workers in the Unite union also plan to strike on 18 and 20 August.

Strikers have to make sure union leaders don’t settle for less than a clear victory, but action on the railways are only the tip of the iceberg. Millions of workers sense that fighting back is the only way to ­confront the cost of living crisis.

There could be strikes in the postal service in the near future, with CWU union leaders expected to announce a date for action after Socialist Worker went to press. This would catapult a further 115,000 workers into action.

And 1,600 London bus workers employed by London United plan to strike on 19 and 20 August after refusing a paltry pay offer of 3.5 ­percent this year. In addition to all this, strikes by refuse workers, ballots for action in universities and wildcat strikes by Amazon workers show a growing mood to revolt.

NHS workers start the votes on key pay strikes

Unions representing hundreds of thousands of NHS workers in England and Wales are this week starting a series of ballots for strikes over pay. The Tory government has imposed a flat rate increase of just £1,400 a year, which for most workers will be an effective pay cut.

The Unite union, which represents laboratory staff and others, has just begun a five-week consultative ballot and asked its members to vote for industrial action. The nurses’ RCN will ballot for strikes from 15 September with a recommendation that members vote yes.

And, the giant Unison union is balloting for strikes—but not until 27 October.

The battle is now on to ensure the biggest possible turnout and the largest yet yes vote for strikes.

In Scotland, where the offer is a tiny 5 percent rise—a big pay cut—the results of unions’ consultative ballots on the offer were due on Friday this week.

The only way to stop the destruction of the NHS, and chronic understaffing, is to back the fight of those who work for it.

Coordinate action to hit Tories

Rail workers have been given strength by huge waves of solidarity from other trade unionists and activists. Network Rail worker Andy said the support is “overwhelming”, adding that “it’s nothing that we expected”.

He believes the solidarity has strengthened the mood among his colleagues to win. “The Tories now have to think twice about attacking us because there’s an army of people behind us.”

But to make the strikes stronger, they ought to be coordinated. Union leaders from RMT, Aslef, TSSA and Unite should call out every rail worker on the same day. And every worker across every industry who has a mandate could strike on the same day.

So, for example, bus drivers and refuse workers in dispute everywhere could strike on the same day as rail workers.

‘I want more strikes now,’ says RMT Network Rail worker

Even those workers who aren’t in a union could be urged to take part. Walkouts by Amazon workers have shown that it is possible to take action without going through ballots and meeting thresholds.

A day—or even better, several days—of united strikes would send a message the Tories could not ignore. And we need more rallies and demonstrations. The RMT has called demos for 20 August in cities such as Sheffield and Liverpool.

These should happen everywhere. They can focus support, build strikes, encourage others to join the battle and provide a forum for discussion.

Every striker has to be actively involved—on the picket lines and in deciding how to take the battle forward. It can’t be left to the union leaders

WE AREN'T FIGHTING JUST THE BOSSES BUT THE GOVERNMENT TOO

UK

New public mood backs train drivers striking this weekend, says Aslef leader Mick Whelan


Mick Whelan (centre), general secretary, Aslef, joins the picket line outside Paddington train station in London as members of the drivers union Aslef at seven train operators walk out for 24 hours over pay

TRAIN drivers striking at nine operating companies today can be assured of widespread public support, their union leader Mick Whelan told the Morning Star.

Members of drivers’ union Aslef will walk out for 24 hours in a pay dispute at Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, LNER, Southeastern, West Midlands Trains and London Overground.

Mr Whelan said that train companies claim to be barred from awarding a pay rise in line with inflation by “dodgy deals” imposed by the government when their franchises were turned into management contracts, but government says the dispute is nothing to do with it and must be dealt with by the companies.

“So we are caught in a Catch 22 situation where each side blames the other,” he explained.

“The drivers at these companies have not had an increase for three years. With inflation running at 9, 10 or even 11 per cent, we are being told to take a real-terms pay cut. Strike action is now the only option available, but we are always open for talks if the companies, or government, want to come to the table.”

Rail workers kept services running through the coronavirus pandemic while the government handed public money to operators that used it to shore up profits, Mr Whelan pointed out.

Yet rather than negotiate properly with unions, he said, ministers and rail companies such as Avanti are “spreading lies” about workers taking “unofficial strike action” to cover up their own failure to employ enough staff to run trains if workers don’t volunteer to work overtime.

Propaganda about unions resisting “modernisation” is also just that, Mr Whelan told the Morning Star.

“The government is using the pandemic and other failures like the fallout from its Brexit deal to push attacks on the workforce it has wanted for a long time.

“Nobody has come to us to talk about introducing new technology or decarbonisation. ‘Modernisation’ just means attacks on unions and workers’ terms and conditions.”

But Mr Whelan said that if transport strikes were often unpopular in the past, the mood has changed.

“Strikes are really resonating now and we’re getting unprecedented support,” he said. “I was incredibly proud to speak at the Morning Star rally this week where we heard from workers in sector after sector taking strike action to defend their living standards.”

Major travel disruption across UK as train drivers strike over pay 

13 August 2022

Train strikes are set to grind the country to a halt on Saturday. Picture: Alamy/LBC

By Sophie Barnett

Rail passengers will face huge disruption today as train drivers at nine operating companies stage a 24-hour walkout in a row over pay and working conditions

Football fans, tourists and holidaymakers will be among tens of thousands of passengers affected by the strikes by members of Aslef.

Workers at nine train companies will walk out for 24 hours, crippling large parts of the network, with some parts of the country having no services.

Passengers are being urged not to travel where possible and to check their journeys before setting off.

The strikes will hit Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, LNER, London Overground, Southeastern and West Midlands Trains, with further industrial action planned in the coming weeks.

Passengers are also advised to consider starting journeys later on Sunday August 14.

Read more: Tube, train and bus strike dates: When are the walkouts set to cripple UK in August

The 24-hour walkout coincides with another busy weekend of football, with Premier League games in Manchester, London, Birmingham and Brighton likely to be affected.

Passengers with advance, off-peak or anytime tickets affected by the strike can use their ticket either on the day before the date on the ticket, or up to and including Tuesday August 16, or can change their tickets to travel on an alternate date, or get a refund if their train is cancelled or rescheduled.

Aslef said that drivers on strike on Saturday have not had a pay increase for three years.

The union is also balloting drivers at Chiltern Railways, Northern Trains and TransPennine Express for strikes, with the results due later this month.

Dick Fisher, an organiser for Aslef, told LBC the strike is all about train drivers' pay, as he joined the picket line at Euston Station in London.

"They worked all through the pandemic and they haven't had a pay rise in three years, they're saying 'enough is enough'," he said.

"The employers aren't listening, we've put in pay claims for three years that are basically being ignored."

He said they are calling for a meeting with their employer to find a "sensible way forward", but claims they are "not talking to us".

Steve Montgomery, chair of the Rail Delivery Group, condemned Aslef's strikes, and said they are "damaging" for the economy.

He told LBC official talks will take place with Aslef and the RMT (National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers) next week in what he described a "good step forward".

Aslef train drivers on strike at Euston Station. Picture: LBC

Strikes will also take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday next week - with the rail network, Tube and London buses affected.