Boris Johnson is waging culture war against trade unions, warns TUC chief
The UK government has been accused of waging a culture war against workers rather than pushing to resolve strikes on the railways, amid growing anger among public sector workers over pay and conditions.
The head of the TUC said ministers appeared to be more interested in stoking tensions between different groups of workers by making an example of striking railway unions and their members before a broader summer of industrial action.
Speaking to the Guardian as the biggest strikes on the network since the 1980s entered a third day, Frances O’Grady said: “It is worth stating the bleeding obvious, but this is all about culture wars. And we are top of the list. You have to understand everything through that prism.
“It’s more about being seen to pick a fight – with hostility, sowing division. That is the point. So policy success [averting the strikes] isn’t really the goal.”
Instead of helping broker a deal between the train operating companies and the RMT rail union, she suggested ministers were deliberately whipping up societal tensions in the hope of driving a wedge between unionised workers and the rest of society.
The government has so far refused to play a formal role in negotiations and said it plans to change the law to allow agency workers to replace striking staff.
However, O’Grady said using culture war tactics to demonise unionised employees was bound to backfire as workers across society struggle with wages failing to keep pace with the soaring cost of living.
Ministers are considering options for public sector pay increases against a backdrop of growing unrest over the cost of living crisis, with NHS staff, teachers and civil servants bracing for potential industrial action. A report in the Financial Times suggested
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