(PA)
Passengers across Britain are being warned not to travel by train today unless absolutely necessary, as members of the RMT union begin the first in a series of 12 days of strikes across the festive period.
Some 40,000 workers across Network Rail and 14 train operating companies are involved in the walk-outs in December and January, planned to cause as much disruption as possible as travellers attempt to get around over Christmas and New Year’s.
Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT union, today blamed former transport secretary Grant Shapps for blocking a settlement to the six-month rail dispute.
He told The Independent: “I think Grant Shapps has still got his hand in it, because they [the cabinet] do a ‘round robin’ about proposals.
“He’s going to be leading the new wave of anti-trade laws. So I think there are people intervening, and vetoing the Department for Transport’s stand.
“I told the minister, the secretary of state, that he’s not got the authority of an independent department.
“Other people are telling him what to do and other people are telling him what to write down in the proposals. And that’s where the blockage is.”
Mick Lynch accuses Grant Shapps of dragging out rail dispute
As the latest national rail strike began, the boss of the main union involved has blamed the former transport secretary, Grant Shapps, for blocking a settlement to the six-month dispute.
Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT union, told The Independent: “I think Grant Shapps has still got his hand in it, because they [the cabinet] do a ‘round robin’ about proposals.
“He’s going to be leading the new wave of anti-trade laws. So I think there are people intervening, and vetoing the Department for Transport’s stand.
“I told the minister, the secretary of state, that he’s not got the authority of an independent department.
“Other people are telling him what to do and other people are telling him what to write down in the proposals. And that’s where the blockage is.
“We’ll talk to both sides, Network Rail and the TOCs, to see if we can move it forward, and we are available any time in order to do that.”
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