The Government must break the grip of the unions
Last month it was the turn of junior doctors to stage a walkout. This month, it is set to be train guards, who are planning to stage a walkout over the August Bank Holiday.
The rationale for their strike is straightforward: train companies have had the temerity to introduce mobile tickets in place of paper tickets, and train guards receive a commission for selling paper tickets on the train.
As such, unions are insisting that scanning electronic tickets is an addition to the job of reading paper tickets, and requires extra remuneration. No extra pay, no train staff. And no Bank Holiday travel for passengers.
It is utterly transparent behaviour that further goes to show why the grasp of the unions on public life should be weakened, not strengthened. There have been too many strikes by groups determined to use their stranglehold on narrow sectors of the economy to extract concessions from a public unable to find alternatives at short notice.
A government which had the nation's interests at heart would follow the example set by Margaret Thatcher, and lay the ground for breaking this grip. Regrettably, Sir Keir Starmer and his colleagues are pursuing precisely the opposite course of action, with Angela Rayner's Employment Rights Bill handing enormous power to the unions. We can therefore look forward to more such strikes in the years to come. A party which promised to end the chaos may well then be rewarded at the polls.
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