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TORY ministers are blocking attempts to end national rail strikes, transport unions charged today as tens of thousands of workers prepare for more walkouts this week.
RMT members at Network Rail and 14 train-operating companies will continue a six-month dispute over cuts to safety critical jobs and take-home pay with another two 48-hour strikes tomorrow and on Friday.
And Thursday will see Aslef drivers at several train operators down tools again over plummeting real-terms wages, after first walking out in July 2022.
Both unions urged Downing Street to facilitate “sensible” proposals that would help passengers avoid significant disruption, with only a limited number of services set to run.
“We don’t want disruption, we want a settlement,” RMT general secretary Mick Lynch told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“There’s been too much disruption on the railway caused by government policy and if we can get sensible proposals we can work up towards a solution.”
Mr Lynch said that he had received “radio silence” since mid-December, saying: “They keep saying that they’re facilitating a deal — I think it’s absolutely the opposite to that.
“The government simply will not give a mandate to employers that will allow this deal to be resolved. They’re sitting on their hands.”
Aslef head Mick Whelan stressed that his members are “in it for the long haul,” saying: “We don’t want to go on strike, but the companies have pushed us into this place.
“They have not offered our members a penny and these are people who have not had an increase since 2019.
“We are always happy to negotiate — we never refuse to sit down at the table and talk — but these companies have offered us nothing and that is unacceptable.
“The ball is in their court. The companies, or this Tory government which stands behind them, could end this dispute now by making a serious and sensible pay offer.”
The Department for Transport repeated its claim that ministers are being “reasonable and stand ready to facilitate a resolution.”
Daniel Mann of the Rail Delivery Group, which represents most of the employers involved, suggested the dispute will only end when unions agree to “long overdue reforms to working arrangements needed to put the industry on a sustainable footing.”
