Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan says strikes are ‘government-led’ due to lack of compromise from ministers
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, is taking part in a roundtable discussion on cancer policy with Keir Starmer later, and this morning he was on the Today programme to talk about health policy.
The NHS is one of the most important issues to voters, and at the moment Labour has a distinctive offer on the subject; as announced at the party conference last year, it is proposing a big increase in NHS recruitment to address the workforce shortage in hospitals and surgeries.
After years of delays, it looks like on this crucial issue [Rishi] Sunak is set to do something all his previous four Tory prime ministers failed to do: oversee the publication of a comprehensive workforce strategy.
Although ministers have been coy about the timing, with one this week simply saying it will arrive “within months”, I understand that the expectation in Whitehall is that it will be unveiled just before, or on, 5 July, the 75th anniversary of the NHS itself …
It does take time [to train more doctors] and that’s why we’ve urged the government to nick our workforce plan. I would be delighted if the government double the number of medical school places, as we’ve suggested and proposed ahead of our manifesto.
We’re not investing enough in CT scanners and diagnostic equipment. So there are things that could be done in relatively short order to improve our performance.
Merriman criticised Aslef and the RMT for failing to give their members a vote on the pay offer from rail companies. He said:
The sad reality of this situation is that there are offers on the table which have been given to both the train drivers’ union and the RMT.
The leadership have chosen not to put those offers to their members and I feel if they did, there would be the opportunity for members to decide if they wish to take them.
Merriman claimed the RDG offer was similar to the Network Rail one, and he said it was unreasonable for the RMT to ballot members on the latter, but not the former. Arguing that the Network Rail offer was “very similar” to the RDG one, he said:
If that’s the case for someone who works on the tracks, why not their fellow workers who work on the trains? And that’s what we’re calling the RMT and Aslef’s leadership to do.
He claimed the pay offer would mean train drivers could earn £65,000 for a 35-hour week. He said:
If you look at the train driver situation, they are paid just under £60,000. The pay offer would take them to £65,000 for a 35-hour week.
We feel these are fair and reasonable, and we need to see those put to their members. So it is not the case that there is not an offer there — the offer is there, we just need it put to members to see what they think about it.
He said working conditions for rail drivers should be changed so that Sunday services no longer rely on drivers volunteering to work. He told BBC Breakfast:
What we are looking to do is change the way that the workforce operates. For example, at the moment we have to ask train operators to get volunteers to work on a Sunday.
Well, you and I want to use the train on a Sunday, we can’t work like that.
