- Wednesday, March 12, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
British foreign secretary Liz Truss has vowed to take on “militant” union leaders if she succeeds in becoming the next prime minister of the country.
The 46-year-old leader revealed her iron-fist plan after the UK’s rail union leader Jack Lynch on Thursday (18) threatened that walkouts could go on indefinitely unless London meets his demands.
Only 20 per cent of train services across Britain were in operation on Thursday because of the strike action over wages, jobs and conditions that involved more than 45,000 railway workers, who are members of the RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transport) and TSSA (Transport Salaried Staffs Association) unions.
RMT members on London Underground and London Overground, and some bus drivers in the capital took industrial action on Friday.
Truss, who is leading the Conservative race for the prime minister over Rishi Sunak, was quoted as saying by reports, “Once again we’re seeing militant trade unionists holding our country to ransom, with members of Sir Keir Starmer’s party keeping them company on the picket lines. As prime minister I’ll crackdown on the debilitating strikes that cripple the vital services that hard-working people rely on.”
The plan that Truss drew up to deal with the challenge includes introducing minimum service levels on critical national infrastructure to keep various services, including trains and buses, operational.
It was also said that a cooling-off period would start so that the unions could no longer strike as many times as they feel in the exi-month time period after a poll.
While Lynch warned that Britain could be brought to a grinding halt by waves of strikes affecting “every sector of the economy”, Paul Scully, the country’s minister of state for local government, faith and communities told the Daily Express on Thursday that prolonged strike will shut down businesses.
“The fact is, people are struggling because of inflation and the cost of living crisis.
“The very people Mick Lynch and the unions purport to help are the ones suffering the most. Their militant approach is doing nothing to help those people at all. We see people saying they want to protect jobs and businesses – but all of these are put at risk the longer it goes on.
“If strikes do last, businesses already struggling with money – they are put at risk. And therefore it puts jobs at risks.”
Levelling-up minister Neil O’Brien told the daily: “Widespread strikes could really damage the economy at a time when it’s already going to be really difficult for a lot of people.
“The strikes are the last thing we need. If strikes did spread to healthcare, that would be extremely dangerous. We will run the risk of people being injured or killed.”
Another strike was set to be held on Saturday (20).
