British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday attacked unions for causing misery to millions with “particularly cruelly timed” strikes over the Christmas holiday, as the government announced plans to use about 1,200 troops to cover striking workers to keep key services running. A wave of winter strikes are planned over the next few weeks, including rail workers, health workers and border guards, all demanding better pay and working conditions.
Sunak said in “The Sun on Sunday” that workers had been offered “deals that are fair and affordable” and accused unions of waging a “class war”. “Unions are causing misery to millions, with transport strikes in particular cruelly timed to strike at Christmas,” writes Sunak. “Railway workers and border guards have been offered deals that are fair – and affordable for taxpayers. A growing number of union members want a deal. They are tired of being pawns in [Railway RMT Union boss] Mick Lynch’s class war,” he said. The government has repeatedly warned that backing down from union demands for massive pay rises would kick Britain into an “inflationary spiral” that would hit the poorest hardest.
“Even [the opposition] Labor have admitted that the union demands are intolerable. But they will still take union money and undermine the interests of the traveling public. Labor is supporting the Grinch who want to steal Christmas for their own political ends. We are doing everything we can to get people The Christmas they deserve,” Sunak said.
“The military is stepping up and we are putting other measures in place to keep services running where possible,” he added. Union bosses have warned that the army is not “trained enough” to police the country’s borders or drive ambulances and should not be put in such an “insidious” position when they already have “enough on their plates”. Labour’s shadow minister for immigration, Stephen Kinnock, called the Prime Minister’s language “outrageous” and told Sky News the government was “coddling a fight” with the unions.
“I think the government needs to stop all the rhetoric, the empty posturing and sowing the seeds of division and actually start looking for constructive solutions now so that we can get people back to work in a way where they feel valued and where they feel there is real value for them in these jobs the future,” Kinnock said. Meanwhile, nurses are threatening to launch a new wave of even bigger strikes in the new year unless ministers respond with a solution within 48 hours of next week’s walkout. A 48-hour countdown will begin after the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) launched its second series of historic strikes on Tuesday.
