The Government “folded way too easily” when settling with train drivers to end the strike, commentator Candice Holdsworth has claimed.
The Labour Government and the union agreed to a deal with train drivers to pay them an increase of 15 per cent.
However, despite accepting the pay deal disruption is expected on the East Coast main line every Saturday and Sunday from September 1 to November 10.
Speaking to GB News Holdsworth said: “I don’t think this was a skilfully negotiated settlement.
Candice Holdsworth said the government has to represent the taxpayer
GB News
“I mean, I do not object to people getting a pay rise in this current economic environment. I think a lot of people are dealing with high rents, high mortgages, bills. Fine. But what did we get in return?
“The Government was there to represent the interests of taxpayers and also the users of these public services. And I don’t think there were any significant concessions offered from the unions.
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“I think the Government was just so keen to settle and to show this as a sort of victory, that they didn’t conduct a proper negotiation and get a proper deal where both sides give to each other.
GB News host Michel Portello agreed: “For example, railway drivers are not required to work on Sundays. There is no contractual requirement for us to run a Sunday railway as far as the railway drivers are concerned.
“So every train that runs on a Sunday is because, as it were, a railway driver has done us a favour or rather has thought that the extra pay that’s being offered makes it worth his or her while.”
She explained: “My local train station trains only run every half hour. Sometimes they’re cancelled. They’re not very reliable.
LNER have announced fresh strikes PA
“You know, they’re very busy on the weekends. People use them to get in and out of London. I mean, we need to see the interest of public money.
“Were Governments good custodians in these negotiations of public money and of people who rely on the trains to get to work, to go, to travel?
“I don’t think that happened. And I think that they folded way too easily.”
As well as higher pay, train drivers have requested extra perks.
She said they “folded too easily”
GB News
According to Centre for Policy Studies Director Robert Colvile, the perks the drives have asked for include being able to reset the clock on your work break if your boss interrupts it to say hello.
They would also like the option to cancel your weekend shift because you prefer to watch the Euros.
A Department for Transport spokesman said: “Train drivers have not had a pay rise for five years. Salaries also vary and not all drivers will be on the highest rate.
“This offer is below the rate of inflation and costs significantly less than the economic damage strikes have caused over the previous two years.
“That’s not to mention the impact it has had on hardworking people’s day-to-day lives. This Government is doing the right thing by ending strikes and returning much-needed certainty for passengers across the country.”
Source Agencies
