Bernie Sanders attends RMT rally calling on UK workers to ‘take on corporate greed’

Bernie Sanders has backed striking British workers calling on them to stand together to fight back at "corporate greed”.

The former US presidential hopeful addressed the Save London's Public Transport Rally, organised by unions including the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), in the capital on Wednesday night.

This comes as the RMT claimed the long term funding deal announced by Transport for London (TfL) and the government will lead to more strikes, as it will attack Tube worker’s pay and pensions.

Mr Sanders, speaking at the event in Great Russell St said: “What is going on today in the UK is no different than what is going on in the United States of America, same bloody thing.

“What you are seeing is people on the top, people who are phenomenally rich, are becoming richer, you are seeing a middle class continue to shrink and you’re seeing millions and millions of people living in abject poverty.

“In the year 2022, we cannot allow that to happen, whether it’s the UK or the United States, working people all over the globe have got to stand together.”

He added: “Our job right now internationally is to stand together. Our job right now is to bring people all over the world together, to make it clear to the oligarchs that their day and their power is ending.”

Other speakers at yesterday’s event included Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell, RMT leader Mick Lynch and Miatta Fahnbulleh of the New Economics Foundation.

RMT Leader Mick Lynch said: “It’s great that the senator’s come over, he reached out to us – coming here to express his solidarity for workers in the UK but also around the world, and in his own country, the USA.

“I think Sanders moved the debate in the American democratic primaries, he’s made (President Joe) Biden bring forward a very brave pro-union agenda and many people on the union side are pleased with some of the measures that President Biden has brought in, and Bernie Sanders is responsible for that.

“But he’s also responsible along with others of generating a new wave of trade union activity, with new unions, new union activists from a diverse background, getting to grips with some of these corporate profits and corporate rip-offs that are going on in the States.

“And we can learn from that over here, I’m sure that they can learn from what we’re doing, so we’ve got to make those connections and make our movement international.”

RMT has held a series of strikes over the summer and has, alongside other rail unions, not ruled out further industrial action into the autumn.