‘Most people don’t think it’s fair and reasonable’: Oliver Dowden makes last ditch plea to unions to call off strikes

• Dowden said the government was ‘straining every sinew’ to minimise the chaos
• PM Sunak is said to be concerned about the level of coordination from strikers
• RMT union chief Mick Lynch said unions had a duty to coordinate strikes in the face of a ‘generalised attack on working people’ 

The minister charged with keeping Britain running during this week’s strikes made a last ditch appeal to unions to call them off last night – as he admitted that the Government could not prevent serious disruption to key services.

Speaking after a meeting of the Government’s emergency committee Cobra, Oliver Dowden said Government departments were ‘straining every sinew’ to minimise the chaos.

But he added: ‘The single best thing that can be done to minimise those risks – we can’t eliminate them altogether – is for the strikes to be called off and for those unions to once again engage with the employers.

‘It’s only fair and reasonable at a time when people are struggling both with the consequences of the situation in Russia and Ukraine, as we emerge from Covid, and indeed this winter. I don’t think most people think it’s fair and reasonable to undertake these strikes.

‘My message to them, even now, is please call them off.’

Britain’s Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden arrives in Downing Street in central London to attend a cabinet meeting ahead of the government’s full budget statement on November 17, 2022

His comments came as Rishi Sunak hit out at militant unions for coordinating strikes in a cynical bid to ‘exacerbate the misery they inflict on the public’.

Downing Street said the Prime Minister was concerned by claims from union leaders that they are plotting a timetable of disruption aimed at maximising the inconvenience to ordinary families.

No 10 said Britain was facing ‘a number of challenging days’ as rail workers, nurses, paramedics and postal staff combine to produce the most damaging round of industrial action seen for years. Ministers would not be able to prevent ‘serious disruption’ if the strikes go ahead.

Trade unions are banned from taking so-called ‘secondary action’ in support of each other. But a loophole in the law permits them to coordinate individual strikes to maximum effect.

Militant rail unions have made no secret of the fact they are coordinating industrial action with each other in order to maximise the impact on the travelling public while minimising the pay lost by their members. Nurses and paramedics have ensured four days of disruption for the NHS in the next fortnight by each striking for two days on different days.

And the PCS union has said it was coordinating action on roads and at airports with the rail strikes in order to cause maximum disruption to anyone trying to travel this Christmas.

RMT union chief Mick Lynch said unions had a duty to coordinate strikes in the face of a ‘generalised attack on working people’.

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT)

He added: ‘The price of labour is not the right price in this country… what the unions have got to do is correct that.’ Former deputy prime minister Damian Green said union leaders were in effect trying to mount a politically- motivated general strike against the Government.

He accused the unions of organising ‘political strikes’, adding: ‘This is a quasi-general strike they are trying to organise and that needs to be resisted by everyone who cares about democracy.’

The PM’s official spokesman said Mr Sunak was also concerned about the level of coordination –and refused to rule out tightening the law to prevent it.

‘It is concerning to hear talk of coordinated action,’ he said. ‘It only serves to exacerbate the misery it inflicts upon the public.

Meanwhile, ‘fast stream’ civil servants yesterday became the latest to vote for strike action over a 3 per cent pay offer.

A Whitehall source described the vote as extraordinary, pointing out that high-flyers can earn almost £29,000 straight out of university and be on more than £50,000 four years later.

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