Labour activists and unionists are accused of hypocrisy

Labour activists and unionists are accused of hypocrisy over rail fare hike protests after Chris Grayling points out party increased prices by 10% in a year while they were in power

  • Jeremy Corbyn had branded the latest hike as a ‘national disgrace’ 
  • Chris Grayling said unions had been demanding inflation-busting pay
  • This includes a staggering pay deal which will see drivers on one of the most disrupted services paid more than £63,000 a year for a four-day week 

The astonishing hypocrisy of militant unions and Labour activists over rising rail fares was laid bare yesterday.

As Jeremy Corbyn branded the latest hike a ‘national disgrace’, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said unions had driven up prices by demanding inflation-busting pay rises for rail workers.

This includes a staggering pay deal which will see drivers on one of the most disrupted services paid more than £63,000 a year for a four-day week.

Chris Grayling  (pictured above) said unions had driven up prices by demanding inflation-busting pay rises for rail workers

Walkouts by the hardline Rail Maritime and Transport union, supported by Labour, have caused chaos, with more than 60 days of protests on Northern and South Western last year.

But union members were yesterday out in force with Labour activists and Left-leaning campaign groups such as Bring Back British Rail to stage protests across the country.

They chanted slogans such as ‘failing Grayling, Grayling’s failing’ and called for lower fares and the renationalision of the railways – a key Labour pledge.


  • ‘I feel sorry for them’: Police chief apologises to couple…


    Rail fares have shot up 37 per cent in ten years – twice as…


  • The gang of five’s ultimatum: Change the EU deal or we quit….

Share this article

Labour’s transport spokesman Andy McDonald, who received £60,000 in donations from the RMT in just over a year, said passengers were ‘furious’ with the latest 3.1 per cent fare rise.

But Mr Grayling said: ‘I’m not going to take lessons from a party that in its last year in government presided over a 10 per cent increase in fares in a year.’

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today, he added: ‘The reality is, the fare increases are higher than they should be because the unions demand – with threats of national rail strikes if they don’t get them – higher pay rises than everybody else.

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured above) branded the latest hike a ‘national disgrace’

‘Typical pay rises in the rail unions are well over 3 per cent and that’s what drives rising costs more than anything else. These are the same unions that I’m afraid fund the Labour Party, fund Andy McDonald.’

Rail minister Andrew Jones added: ‘These comments from Labour are predictable and nothing more than hypocrisy.’ Regulated fares such as season tickets rise each year in line with the Retail Prices Index measure of inflation, which is currently 3.2 per cent.

The RMT, which uses RPI in pay talks, has resisted Mr Grayling’s pleas to link wage rises to the Consumer Prices Index measure of inflation, which is far lower at 2.3 per cent.

Rail fares rose by 3.1 per cent on average yesterday, pushing up the cost of many season tickets by more than £100.

It comes after passengers endured the least punctual rail service in 13 years amid the botched introduction of a new timetable, strikes and over-running engineering works.

Labour has called for fares to be frozen on the worst routes. Its analysis of 180 routes suggests the average commuter is paying £2,980 for their annual season ticket, up £786 from 2010 when the Tories came to power.

Wages for rail workers have risen even more sharply than fares. Drivers’ union Aslef has won a huge pay deal for those working on Southern, which has been plagued by the longest strike action for 30 years.

The five-year deal, which has been backdated to 2016, will enable drivers to earn as much as £75,000 a year with overtime.

It pushes up their basic pay from £49,000 in 2016 to £63,000 in 2021 – a 28.5 per cent rise.

Those at Great Northern and Thameslink will see pay rise 3.6 per cent to £63,196 in October.

Source: Read Full Article