Senior Tories have criticised Sir Keir Starmer over pay offers to train drivers and junior doctors, with James Cleverly claiming the Government has been “played by its union paymasters”.This comes as RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that rail workers expect the same terms as those offered to train drivers.A new pay offer aimed at ending the long-running dispute with train drivers came to light on Wednesday.The deal, which is to be voted on by the Aslef union, would include a backdated 5% increase for 2019 to 2022, 4.75% for 2022 to 2024 and a further 4.5% for 2024 to 2025.A separate offer to junior doctors is an uplift worth 22% over two years.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Keir Starmer has made offers to junior doctors and has left train drivers in which he hopes
00:08to bring a stop to the worst period of industrial action in a generation.
00:13Ending years of walkouts, the Labour Party have managed to fund public sector pay deals,
00:19finding outcomes all sides were happy to accept.
00:22They say that they were sticking to their promises made when they were in opposition.
00:27But the Tories say that they have lost control of these negotiations.
00:32In the words of James Cleverley, they have been played by the union paymasters.
00:37Junior doctors have made a deal worth 22% more on average over two years and the as-left
00:44train drivers got around a 5% backdated pay rise.
00:48The Tories have accused Labour of being naive when it comes to these agreements, warning
00:53that other unions will threaten action to get similar payments to those ones.
00:59And we are seeing signs of that.
01:01The RMT, another rail union, is seeking parity with the as-left train driver offer.
01:07And despite that pay deal, as-left are still planning strikes.
01:11These are on the LNER trains which operate on the east coast mainline between London
01:17and Edinburgh.
01:18They say this is in a separate dispute over working conditions.
01:22Meanwhile, Border Force officers at Heathrow Airport plan to walk out at the end of August
01:28and GPs are threatening action if an 11% pay rise isn't met.
01:34That's according to some reports.
01:36So where does this leave Starmer and the Chancellor?
01:40They promised to improve industrial relations and public services, but if the strikes go
01:45ahead or not, either way it seems that it could be costly for the government and the
01:50public purse.
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