In a letter to Grant Shapps, the general secretaries of 14 unions – representing millions of employees, including civil servants, shopkeepers, teachers and NHS staff – warned that ministers should stop “divisive efforts”. The union’s secretary general, Frances O’Grady, who is one of the signatories to the letter, also accused the government of “lighting the flames” of the dispute and insisted that ministers had the power to help find a settlement. It comes after Mr Shapps, the transport secretary, warned the country’s largest railway union that the shutdown would be a “huge act of self-harm” to industry and claimed that unions had “fired” for action that would “punish”. millions of innocent people. “ Mr Shapps also said calls by the Railways, Shipping and Transportation Association (RMT) for ministers to intervene in talks on workers’ conditions were a “trick”, adding that only the union and the employer could resolve the dispute. . Without a decision at 11 o’clock, RMT members working for Network Rail and 13 train operators will leave this week, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. On the first day of their action, employees of the London Underground will also participate. In a letter to Mr Shapps, the general secretaries of 14 trade unions, including the National Education Union (NEU), Unison, Unite, GMB and the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU), stated: “The trade union movement will never accept trying to separate employees from each other. “With household bills and prices soaring, of course workers will seek to defend jobs, wages and conditions. “The right to withdraw your work is a fundamental British freedom.” Calling on the government to intervene, they added: “Our railway unions are seeking a negotiated settlement to this dispute and we urge you to talk to the unions and employers to help find a just solution.” Ms O’Grady also claimed that ministers were “desperate to put worker against worker” in the bitter controversy. In recent days, individual ministers, along with the Conservative Party, have tried to describe the labor action as “Labor strikes” on social media, arguing that the action would “prevent doctors, nurses and patients from going to the hospital”. But Ms O’Grady said: “Instead of rekindling this controversy, the government should work in good faith to find a negotiated settlement. “They have the power to do that.” Speaking on Sky News on Sophy Ridge on Sunday, however, Mr Shapps said: “Unions know that only the union and the employer can handle it. I will not cut it. “ Grant Shapps says the RMT union is “shooting” for strikes He asserted that his confession had been obtained through torture and that his confession had been obtained through torture. “ The minister added: “I think the strike is a huge act of self-injury at the moment. I do not believe that the workers are anywhere as militant as their unions, leading them to the garden path. They shoot for this blow. It’s completely unnecessary. “ However, Tory MP Jake Berry, chairman of the Conservatives’ Northern Research Group (NRG) influence, urged the government and other parties to “turn around the table” to prevent the “huge negative impact” of the planned strike. . RMT boss accuses Grant Shapps of “fabricating” details of talks He told Times Radio: “What is the alternative? The only way to solve this is to have people sit down with, I do not know, iced beer and sandwiches. I do not know if they do it anymore. But to sit down and solve this. “ A spokesman for the Ministry of Transport said: “Trade unions know that wage and internship negotiations do not take place with the government – they happen to the employers of the people they represent. “In this case, it’s the Network Rail and the train companies, so even an hour of talking to ministers would be just the time they could talk to the people who really need it. “Ministers remain extremely close to the issues on both sides of this dispute and to the latter in the ongoing discussions that are taking place. “We will urge the unions once again to give priority to the talks and to cancel these unnecessary strikes.” On Sunday, RMT’s general secretary Mick Leeds insisted the union had no choice but to act as the railways had not yet made a payment offer when talks broke down on Thursday. “What else can we do? Please? Should we please? We want to negotiate for our future. “We want to negotiate,” he told Sky News. He also suggested that there would be more strikes if there was no settlement, and warned that unions representing other sectors across the country could vote “because people can no longer stand it”. “We have people doing full-time jobs who have to receive state benefits and use food banks. “This is a national shame,” he said. Kevin Courtney, the general secretary of the National Education Association, who represents teachers, also told the Observer over the weekend that his union planned to vote for its members unless it received a pay offer much closer to inflation by Wednesday.
