‘I don’t want to be an icon’: Mick Lynch on winning the rail strike PR battle
Public support has soared for the plain-speaking RMT leader who is leading the fight to protect his members’ living standards
Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary, addressing a rally outside King's Cross station in London on the third day of the rail strikes.
Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
Jon Ungoed-Thomas
Jon Ungoed-Thomas
THE GUARDIAN
Sun 26 Jun 2022
At 7 o’clock on Saturday morning, union boss Mick Lynch was once again on the picket line at Euston station in London, galvanising colleagues, talking tactics on the pay negotiations and conducting broadcast interviews.
Until the biggest industrial action on the rail network for more than 30 years, few people would have even heard of Lynch, general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT). This weekend, he is a national figure.
While millions of rail passengers were hit by the dispute, Lynch has won plaudits for clearly articulating the grievances of his members and the reasons for action. He has also disarmed some of television’s most experienced interrogators, including Sky News broadcaster Kay Burley and Talk TV presenter Piers Morgan.
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A Network Rail spokesperson said yesterday that Lynch had spent “more time on telly than at the [negotiating] table this week”. Rail bosses accuse the union of adopting “strike first, negotiate later” tactics.
Despite the brickbats, it was Lynch who was widely judged to have won last week’s public relations battle.
John Leach, RMT assistant general secretary, said: “We’ve had some larger-than-life general secretaries in the past going back to the days of Jimmy Knapp and Bob Crow and all of a sudden there’s this guy no one has heard of articulating what millions are thinking.”
There is concern among ministers that the RMT has been first out of the blocks in what could be a long and difficult few months for pay talks. Lynch has voiced the frustrations and worries of a workforce whose pay packets have effectively been eroded by inflation.
NHS workers and teachers are among the employees who have seen their pay fall in real terms over the past decade.
Passing lorries and cars were beeping their horns in support of yesterday’s picket in London despite more than 40,000 RMT workers virtually bringing the country to a halt over three days of strikes.
Lynch said: “I certainly don’t want to be some kind of icon. Our job is to deliver the most effective action and articulate our case. Millions of people in this country face lower living standards and the stripping out of occupational pensions. We’re not going to accept that.
“We’ve got the most peculiar economic situation in this country with full employment and falling wages. Covid has been a smokescreen for the rich and powerful in this country to drive down wages as far as they can.”
At 7 o’clock on Saturday morning, union boss Mick Lynch was once again on the picket line at Euston station in London, galvanising colleagues, talking tactics on the pay negotiations and conducting broadcast interviews.
Until the biggest industrial action on the rail network for more than 30 years, few people would have even heard of Lynch, general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT). This weekend, he is a national figure.
While millions of rail passengers were hit by the dispute, Lynch has won plaudits for clearly articulating the grievances of his members and the reasons for action. He has also disarmed some of television’s most experienced interrogators, including Sky News broadcaster Kay Burley and Talk TV presenter Piers Morgan.
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A Network Rail spokesperson said yesterday that Lynch had spent “more time on telly than at the [negotiating] table this week”. Rail bosses accuse the union of adopting “strike first, negotiate later” tactics.
Despite the brickbats, it was Lynch who was widely judged to have won last week’s public relations battle.
John Leach, RMT assistant general secretary, said: “We’ve had some larger-than-life general secretaries in the past going back to the days of Jimmy Knapp and Bob Crow and all of a sudden there’s this guy no one has heard of articulating what millions are thinking.”
There is concern among ministers that the RMT has been first out of the blocks in what could be a long and difficult few months for pay talks. Lynch has voiced the frustrations and worries of a workforce whose pay packets have effectively been eroded by inflation.
NHS workers and teachers are among the employees who have seen their pay fall in real terms over the past decade.
Passing lorries and cars were beeping their horns in support of yesterday’s picket in London despite more than 40,000 RMT workers virtually bringing the country to a halt over three days of strikes.
Lynch said: “I certainly don’t want to be some kind of icon. Our job is to deliver the most effective action and articulate our case. Millions of people in this country face lower living standards and the stripping out of occupational pensions. We’re not going to accept that.
“We’ve got the most peculiar economic situation in this country with full employment and falling wages. Covid has been a smokescreen for the rich and powerful in this country to drive down wages as far as they can.”
The virtually empty concourse at Waterloo station, London, on Saturday, as train services continue to be disrupted in the RMT dispute.
Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
Lynch says it has been easier to negotiate pay deals with rail firms which are not under government control. He accuses ministers of undermining the prospects of successful negotiations, but failing to come to the table. The RMT wants a pay deal which keeps pace with inflation and no compulsory redundancies. It has so far rejected a pay offer of 3% from the industry.
Network Rail boss Andrew Haines last week criticised Lynch’s union members for blocking modernisation practices, including claims workers would not turn on a forward-facing camera in a vehicle, had delayed the introduction of an app for communicating with staff, and blocked the use of safety planning tools. Newspaper headlines reported a claim it took “nine workers to change a plug socket”.
The RMT says it continues to implement technological changes. One official said: “We wanted [Mick Lynch] to do broadcast interviews to respond to the industry’s claims, but it just went stratospheric.”
An Ipsos poll conducted last Monday to Wednesday found 62% of respondents sympathised with rail workers over the strikes. Opinion was split on support for the strikes, with one in three supporting them and the same proportion opposing them.
Another poll conducted by Opinium for the RMT before the strikes found that three out of five people polled said the government should intervene to ensure rail companies meet workers’ concerns. The survey also found fewer than one in five supports cuts to staff on trains and stations.
“They have a right to strike and it’s for a good reason,” said Zoe Charlwood, 35, a teacher from Glasgow who was catching one of the few trains operating to Milton Keynes on Wednesday. “I don’t think this is a return to the 1970s.”
Lynch was elected general secretary in May last year. Born to Irish parents, he grew up on a council estate in Paddington, west London, and left school at 16 to become an electrician.
He was blacklisted by construction companies over his union involvement, but the scandal was only exposed two decades later after a raid by the Information Commissioner’s Office on the organisation which compiled the secret database. He moved to the railways to find work, helping to maintain the Eurostar fleet.
He founded and built the RMT Eurostar branch to become one of the biggest in the union. He earns £84,000 with pensions and benefits taking his annual package to £124,000.
Lynch said last week while the unions had calls from around the world supporting members, there had not been the progress he had hoped for in negotiations. He now faces the prospect of protracted talks and a decision on whether to lead out his members for another national strike.
Lynch said last week that more rail strikes were “extremely likely” unless there was more progress in the talks. Rail bosses, the union and passengers are braced for what could be a long summer.
Lynch says it has been easier to negotiate pay deals with rail firms which are not under government control. He accuses ministers of undermining the prospects of successful negotiations, but failing to come to the table. The RMT wants a pay deal which keeps pace with inflation and no compulsory redundancies. It has so far rejected a pay offer of 3% from the industry.
Network Rail boss Andrew Haines last week criticised Lynch’s union members for blocking modernisation practices, including claims workers would not turn on a forward-facing camera in a vehicle, had delayed the introduction of an app for communicating with staff, and blocked the use of safety planning tools. Newspaper headlines reported a claim it took “nine workers to change a plug socket”.
The RMT says it continues to implement technological changes. One official said: “We wanted [Mick Lynch] to do broadcast interviews to respond to the industry’s claims, but it just went stratospheric.”
An Ipsos poll conducted last Monday to Wednesday found 62% of respondents sympathised with rail workers over the strikes. Opinion was split on support for the strikes, with one in three supporting them and the same proportion opposing them.
Another poll conducted by Opinium for the RMT before the strikes found that three out of five people polled said the government should intervene to ensure rail companies meet workers’ concerns. The survey also found fewer than one in five supports cuts to staff on trains and stations.
“They have a right to strike and it’s for a good reason,” said Zoe Charlwood, 35, a teacher from Glasgow who was catching one of the few trains operating to Milton Keynes on Wednesday. “I don’t think this is a return to the 1970s.”
Lynch was elected general secretary in May last year. Born to Irish parents, he grew up on a council estate in Paddington, west London, and left school at 16 to become an electrician.
He was blacklisted by construction companies over his union involvement, but the scandal was only exposed two decades later after a raid by the Information Commissioner’s Office on the organisation which compiled the secret database. He moved to the railways to find work, helping to maintain the Eurostar fleet.
He founded and built the RMT Eurostar branch to become one of the biggest in the union. He earns £84,000 with pensions and benefits taking his annual package to £124,000.
Lynch said last week while the unions had calls from around the world supporting members, there had not been the progress he had hoped for in negotiations. He now faces the prospect of protracted talks and a decision on whether to lead out his members for another national strike.
Lynch said last week that more rail strikes were “extremely likely” unless there was more progress in the talks. Rail bosses, the union and passengers are braced for what could be a long summer.
RMT has best response as Johnson bemoans train drivers for going out on strike
"Can someone please tell the man with the wallpaper made of gold that this is not a train drivers strike!"
"Can someone please tell the man with the wallpaper made of gold that this is not a train drivers strike!"
by Jack Peat
2022-06-25
in Politics
Boris Johnson has hit out at well-paid train drivers for going out on strike.
Addressing reporters from Kigali, Rwanda, the prime minister said some train drivers are on “£59,000 and some are on £70,000” as he bemoaned the industrial action.
But he overlooked the fact that most rail workers on the picket line are actually not drivers, who are mainly associated with the ASLEF union.
The average salary of striking RMT members is actually £33,000, well below the numbers Johnson is spouting.
Thankfully, the union was on hand to clear things up:
2022-06-25
in Politics
Boris Johnson has hit out at well-paid train drivers for going out on strike.
Addressing reporters from Kigali, Rwanda, the prime minister said some train drivers are on “£59,000 and some are on £70,000” as he bemoaned the industrial action.
But he overlooked the fact that most rail workers on the picket line are actually not drivers, who are mainly associated with the ASLEF union.
The average salary of striking RMT members is actually £33,000, well below the numbers Johnson is spouting.
Thankfully, the union was on hand to clear things up:
More UK rail strikes possible, warns RMT leader Mick Lynch
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union walk out for the third time this week
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The National
Jun 25, 2022
Britain's specialist transport union has refused to rule out further industrial action as its latest strike cripples train services.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union walked out on Saturday for the third time this week, with little sign of a breakthrough in discussions between the union and rail operators.
Only a fifth of services are running and half of the lines are closed. Passengers have been warned by rail operators that they should only travel by train if necessary and to check their journey in advance.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the union's strikes could continue, given there is little sign of an end to the deadlock.
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A desolate Waterloo railway station on Saturday on the third day of UK rail strikes this week. AP
MORE ON UK RAIL STRIKES
His comments came as he joined workers on a picket line outside Euston Station in central London on Saturday morning.
"We're not ruling out strikes but we have not put down any dates for any strike action," he told the PA news agency.
"We're going to review with our national executive next week, who have been all the way round the country this week on the picket line, so we're all going to get together the leadership of the union and see where we are.
"We are not going to name dates immediately and we're going to continue working constructively with the companies to strike a deal, but that is a really steep challenge at the moment because of the agenda they've got and the effects they want on our members.
Mr Lynch said they were hoping for "some compromise".
"Strike action's not ruled out and it will have to take place if we do not get a deal," he said.
"What we try to do is have the most effective strike action if it needs to take place. We're not just pretending.
"It's got to be a coherent and effective strike action because we don't want to waste our members' energy on something that doesn't work. We'll review that and see what we need to do if we need to take that action."
Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, centre, on a picket line outside Euston station in London on Saturday. PA
The union leader also had reproachful words for UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who rejected as a "total lie" accusations by the RMT that he was wrecking negotiations by refusing to allow Network Rail to withdraw redundancy threats.
Mr Lynch hit back on Saturday, saying the union had not made any false claims.
"The railway last week was down by 80 per cent," he said.
"That has an effect that we don't particularly want to deploy and they are losing revenue commercially and that hurts them and it hurts our people because they've lost their wages. We don't want that.
"So if Grant Shapps wants to be constructive that's what he can do. He needs to tone down the rhetoric and get on with his job which is to settle this dispute."
'Government-worker disconnect'
Mr Lynch also hit out at the wider government, saying many ministers had never experienced the difficulty of manual labour.
"They're not using the system that they want and they've never worked in this type of work," he said.
"Many of them have never run a business, but they've also never worked on the tools. As my mother would say, they've never done a hand's turn.
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UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has been told to 'tone the rhetoric' and get round the table with the RMT. EPA
"It's quite odd. The people who are running this country are brought up on a diet of Latin and Greek and our members are brought up on a diet of getting up at ungodly times to run the transport system. I think there's a bit of disconnect there.
"If we had people who were used to doing work, we might get a better deal out of them."
Boris Johnson calls for rail reform
The dispute comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the public has a right to expect reforms to rail services.
"I would say, given the circumstances we're in, I think what we want to see is reform and improvement in the way the railways work, and modernisation," he told Sky News.
"When you've got a 25 per cent fall in ridership, which we've got at the moment, we've got the government putting billions and billions [into it].
"We're putting more into the railways than any previous government.
"I think the travelling public has a right to expect some basic reforms, like with ticket offices ... and some of these other practices that really nobody defends except the union leaders."
'Get off the fence': Labour MPs defy Starmer over rail strikes amid 'simmering resentment'
25 June 2022
Labour MPs have defied Sir Keir Starmer’s attempts to keep the party away from striking rail worker's picket lines, demanding he "come off the fence".
John McDonnell and Diane Abbot – key figures in the Corbyn era – joined hundreds of people at King's Cross St Pancras in central London to show support for the RMT union.
Saturday marked the third and final day of national train strikes that ground Britain's railways to almost a complete halt, with workers taking action over pay, jobs and conditions.
Labour leader Sir Keir – who is keeping one eye on public reaction to the industrial action – has been trying to keep his party away from the picket lines, reportedly ordering his frontbench MPs to avoid them.
Backbencher Mr McDonnell cranked up the pressure on Saturday: "I'm on picket line after picket line and so are many Labour MPs.
"I'm saying to Keir Starmer and other Labour MPs as well, do the right thing.
"If you think RMT have got a justifiable dispute, we should support them. I think it is justifiable.
"Follow your conscience, so therefore for me that means Labour MPs being on picket lines and it includes Keir Starmer as well coming off the fence, supporting working people because they're not asking for the world.
"They're asking for protection."
Sir Keir has been emboldened by strong polls for Labour and the return of the red wall seat Wakefield in Thursday's by-election.
Read more:
But he has spent the week under pressure from unions to back the industrial action.
He has not given full support, instead blaming the Government for allowing the dispute to get to this point and saying he did not want strikes.
He will also want to avoid giving the Government more opportunity to run out its attack line where it claims Labour is supporting the disruptive action.
Ms Abbott told the crowd: "I'm proud to be speaking here, proud to be speaking on RMT picking lines and I have to say I don't understand this argument that Labour MPs should not be on picket lines."
She said: "I don't understand the argument that Labour should not be there because we are not supposed to pick a side.
"I thought when you join the Labour Party you had picked a side - on the side of working people."
Read more:
Deputy leader Angela Rayner also clearly backed the action, saying workers had been left with "no choice".
Sir Keir is reported to be weighing up disciplinary action for an MPs who defied his orders about the picket lines.
Simon Fletcher, who has advised Sir Keir along with Jeremy Corbyn and Ed Miliband, warned of an "explosion" if frontbenchers are disciplined, adding that there is a "a lot of simmering resentment and irritation" over Labour's approach to the strikes.
A week of rail strikes - in pictures
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Passengers at a near empty Newcastle station on Thursday morning, as train services continue to be disrupted following the nationwide strike by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union. PA
Updated: June 25, 2022, 7:15 AM
Passengers at a near empty Newcastle station on Thursday morning, as train services continue to be disrupted following the nationwide strike by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union. PA
Updated: June 25, 2022, 7:15 AM
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