Rail bosses criticise UK ministers for ‘bashing’ unions when strikes began last summer

Rail industry bosses have criticised ministers’ confrontational approach to the unions as the biggest industrial action to hit the UK railways in decades began last summer, and said “bashing” them had made it harder to reach a deal.

Andrew Haines, the chief executive of public body Network Rail, said the “noisy political rhetoric” had been “well-intentioned” but “counter-productive” to negotiations.

“If anything, it galvanised the workforce against settling, to be honest. Because it was a them-and-us approach,” he told an industry conference on Tuesday evening.

Although he was not mentioned by name, Grant Shapps, the transport secretary at the time, went on the offensive last May as the rail unions prepared to announce the results of ballots that led to the most widespread industrial action to hit the network in a generation.

Shapps, who is now energy secretary, continued to attack the rail unions as they launched strike action, including a threat to “remove the power of these very militant, extreme-left unions”.

However well intentioned it is, bashing people up in the newspaper doesn’t work if you want to get people to vote for something

While insisting he did not want to “fight” the transport unions, he threatened to legislate to allow agency workers to stand in for striking workers, and to tighten industrial action laws.

Shapps’ successors as transport secretary, including the incumbent Mark Harper, have taken a notably more conciliatory approach, including hosting multiple meetings with unions leaders to try to set a framework for detailed negotiations with the rail industry. The government controls the sector’s finances after effectively nationalising the railways during the pandemic.

“I have seen a very material change in the sentiment amongst Network Rail colleagues because the heat has been taken out of the political debate. However well intentioned it is, bashing people up in the newspaper doesn’t work if you want to get people to vote for something,” Haines said.

The UK railway has been gripped by seven months of industrial action, as the RMT union, drivers’ union Aslef and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association have staged strikes in disputes over pay, reform and possible job losses.

The RMT and TSSA are considering pay and reform offers from the industry, while Aslef held new talks on Tuesday after two days of strikes last week.

Steve Montgomery, who has been leading negotiations on behalf of train companies, also welcomed the change in tone from government.

The chair of industry body The Rail Delivery Group said a “more sensible discussion” had been held under Harper and new rail minister Huw Merriman. “I think it has been depersonalised . . . it became very much ‘them and us’ . . . there is less conflict in the room, and less animosity in the room,” he told the event.

A third industry executive, who declined to be identified, said the early antagonistic approach to the transport unions had “not been helpful” in finding common ground.

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT, said the government’s early approach had been “destructive,” adding: “This approach backfired spectacularly and has made our members more determined to win a negotiated settlement,” he said.

The transport department declined to comment. Shapps did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, the latest figures released by NHS England showed that on Monday, when nurses and ambulance workers began their latest two-day strike, around 16,000 staff were absent from work because of the industrial action and just over 14,000 staff members on Tuesday.

Over the two days more than 41,000 hospital appointments were cancelled, along with a further 6,034 in community services and more than 1,500 for people with mental health problems or a learning disability.

NHS Providers, which represents health organisations across England, expressed concern that, in total, more than 137,000 appointments had been postponed due to industrial action in less than two months. Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive, said: “As trust leaders feared, the strikes on Monday and Tuesday caused the biggest disruption to services yet.”

Separately, talks to avert the first nationwide strike by firefighters over pay since 2003 continued on Wednesday evening. The Fire Brigades Union, whose members had overwhelmingly rejected a pay increase of 5 per cent, said last week it would announce the first strike dates on Thursday if it had not received a “credible offer” before then.

Additional reporting by Leke Oso Alabi