‘Boris should be out of Parliament’ - Rail worker on why he backs train strikes

A rail worker has told how he believes Boris Johnson should be “out of Parliament” as he backed the train strikes set to cause chaos up and down the country.

It comes as RMT leader Mick Lynch confirmed the strike action scheduled for this week, sparked by union anger over cuts to jobs, conditions, pay and pensions, will go ahead.

Speaking to LondonWorld, South West Railway gateline assistant Tom Pew, who works at Clapham Junction station in south London, said: “I’m going to be supporting the strike.

“I’m going to be wherever they tell me to hold the banner and we are going to save ourselves, protect our jobs and the most important thing is we get a bloody good pay rise.”

He added: “You know, I think this government should learn, this Union as well. I think no matter what happens, Boris Johnson is part of this as well.

“He should learn everything about this, because I’ll tell you this, he is a nasty piece of work. He should be out of parliament one of these days”.

“It’s all about money, money, money. Cuts, cuts, cuts.

“I think this government doesn’t understand what it’s doing to this world and whatever happens, I just hope it’s safe.”

Mr Lynch said: “Discussions with Network Rail and the train operators have continued today.

“The train operators have now made an offer and there is no further offer from Network Rail following the one which was rejected last Friday.

“The RMT has now found both sets of proposals to be unacceptable and it is now confirmed that the strike action scheduled this week will go ahead.”

He added: “It is clear that the Tory government after slashing £4bn of funding from National Rail and Transport for London, has now actively prevented a settlement to this dispute.

“The rail companies have now proposed pay rates that are massively under the relevant rates of inflation, coming on top of the pay freezes of the past few years.

“At the behest of the government, companies are also seeking to implement thousands of job cuts and have failed to give any guarantee against compulsory redundancies.”

Commenting on the strikes, a spokesperson for the prime minister said: “For those that have no choice but to come in it will be extremely difficult tomorrow and I think the public will understandably want to know why they are being put in this position.

“We believe we are seeking to offer a fair and reasonable pay rise and modernise the railway services for the long term, and we need to get rid of some of these outdated rules and procedures, some of which have not been updated for decades and which don’t serve the public.”