I’m a small business owner, the rail strikes have already cost me £50,000 – it’s crippling us all

WHAT planet is left-wing firebrand Angela Rayner living on?

 In a bizarre statement yesterday about the dramatic escalation in rail strikes over the festive period, the Labour Deputy Leader said that militant union boss Mick Lynch has been “incredibly reasonable” during the dispute.

She could not be more deluded. Far from showing any restraint, Mick Lynch and his cronies at the Rail, Maritime and Transport union are ruthlessly using their muscle to inflict widespread misery for their own selfish ends.

Their methods are as cruel as their timing. Christmas is meant to be the season of goodwill, but for the cynical bullies of the RMT it is an opportunity to hold the British public to ransom and blackmail the train companies.

Real damage

Lynch is a throwback to the dark days of the 1970s, when the union bosses brought the country to a halt with their extravagant pay demands and addiction to stoppages.

His entire approach is built on deceit and contempt. Only a few weeks ago, in an attempt to give the illusion of conciliation, he promised there would be no industrial action over Christmas.

Now, without a shred of justification, he has gone back on his word. Just as misleading are his empty expressions of regret over the impact of walkouts, claiming the RMT has been “compelled” to take this drastic course by the stubbornness of management and the Government.

His argument is worthless. The strikes are entirely of his union’s making, and those who suffer most from his militancy are ordinary workers who have to struggle to their jobs or cannot see their families over Christmas because of the RMT.

I hope he reads the stories of such people on this page.

At a time when the country is in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis, the pig-headedness of the union is causing real damage, especially to the hospitality sector, for which this is the busiest time of the year.

It is estimated that next week’s strikes alone will cost the economy £1.7billion. Some employees understandably fear losing their livelihoods as a result of business failures and cutbacks caused by the irresponsibility of Lynch’s mob.

The union’s pose as a warrior against oppression would be laughable if it were not so offensive. With a median salary of £44,000, railway workers are far better rewarded than most other occupations, and have longer holidays, shorter hours, more job security and far bigger pensions.

The pay offer that Lynch has just rejected could hardly be called derisory, given that it proposes a five per cent increase backdated to January, four per cent next year, plus other perks.

The union is also ferocious in its resistance to badly needed change across the network. Suspicious of new technology, the RMT has battled to keep inflexible practices from the age of steam.