for months, rail workers have been striking over pay and plans my guest is mick lynch, leader of the biggest rail union, the rmt. the stakes in this fight are high. can the workers win? mick lynch, welcome to hardtalk. you are the leader of a union that s been in a long running dispute now. it goes back to last summer. there have been rolling, sporadic strikes. as it goes on, does it feel harder to find your way to a compromise? well, there s no easy way out for either side. the government has boxed themselves into a corner, to a large extent. and i think that s predicated on the idea of setting precedents for public sector. we ve seen the nurses, ambulance drivers, many civil servants in dispute along similar lines. people aren t being paid enough in this society at the moment and many public sector workers have had long term pay cuts measured against any measure of inflation, so there s some catch up to be done, and that makes it harder because the government wants to be
one union, the ts essay, its members across the board accepted a 9% offer over two years. that same figure pretty much was on offer to all of your members. why did you not only dismiss it but describe it as dreadful? it dismiss it but describe it as dreadful? dismiss it but describe it as dreadful? ., ., , dreadful? it was a really poor offered. the dreadful? it was a really poor offered. the people - dreadful? it was a really poor offered. the people that - dreadful? it was a really poor - offered. the people that accepted our managers. they are the people who go to work when we go on strike. they decided to do that. they are receiving bonuses when they go to work to break our strike. that is a fairly simple formula. you have to decide which team you re playing for. the inflation rate during that period, just those two years is over 21% on the retail price index. most of our members have not had a pay rise now for four years, of our members have not had a pay rise now forfour years