Newly elected RMT chief says union members are being ‘warmed up’ for industrial action at Network Rail
Portraits of trade union leaders from a century ago, all stiff collars and waxed moustaches, gaze down from the boardroom wall of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union’s London headquarters. Staring back in a baggy black suit is the shaven-headed new general secretary, Mick Lynch, merrily denouncing the sellouts among them.
Lynch, 59, knows his history, good and bad, and is preparing for battle ahead, having already announced that the union is in dispute with Network Rail, the government-owned body that runs the railways, over cost-cutting plans. A national strike could come: “At the moment we are warming up our members … we fully expect to be involved in industrial disputes this year on the railway.”