James O’Brien tears apart government reluctance to settle with union demands
13 December 2022, 14:07 | Updated: 13 December 2022, 14:08
James O'Brien on government resistance to agree a deal with RMT
James O’Brien has said "the Tories are banking on the strikes turning toxic" so they can hurl blame at unions and the Labour party.
James O’Brien broke down the rationale behind the government’s unwillingness to agree to the requests of trade union members ahead of a string of strikes.
“It is divide and rule”, he said. “It is the government's intransigence that is at least as responsible - if not more responsible - for the unfolding industrial action.”
“It is also true that the public feels the industrial action more keenly as a consequence of unions than politicians”, he continued.
James described the current impasse as a “political problem”.
“I think they want it”, he said of the strikes which have gone ahead because the government is yet to meet the demands of trade unions.
“I said to you yesterday, if they don’t want this strike they'll do what Nicola Sturgeon has done and they'll at least come to an arrangement with the Royal College of Nursing that means the strike will be postponed.”
James added that about an hour after coming off air yesterday, it was reported that in Scotland, the RCN membership “has accepted an offer far shy of the 19 per cent that is their opening gambit, but greater than what they get now”.
If Nicola Sturgeon can sit down with the RCN and avert strikes, why can't Rishi Sunak?
He pointed out that it was “still a bit behind inflation, about £2200 a year average pay increase for Scottish nurses”.
“In England, they haven't done it. You have to wonder why, and you know why”, he said, before launching into an unbroken stream of speech, unpacking the logic behind the political stalemate.
READ MORE: Striking nurses say they might cancel walkout if government takes talks 'seriously'
“The Tories are banking on the strikes turning toxic, the unions getting a kicking, somehow they’re going to tie it to Labour even though Keir Starmer has been very backwards in coming forwards for support for the trade unions”, he said.
“The right-wing media will collude in this conspiracy, they’ll completely misreport everything. If you’re buying a newspaper in London today, it won't even mention what's happened with Scottish nurses.”
“They‘ll paint big targets on the back of people like Mick Lynch, they’ll call him a union firebrand without ever using the adjective ‘incompetent’ to describe the members of the cabinet that bear - in my view - considerably more responsibility for this situation than the union leaders do.”
The British public “will once again be persuaded to believe, feel and act and vote against their own interests”, he concluded.
James expressed his support for “the idea of negotiations leading to a compromise” and RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch's explanations of “both why he’s seeking a better deal for his members and why his members are keen to protect the future of the railways”.
While he believed the RMT boss’ points are “convincing and compelling”, James also found himself “wondering whether if I was stuck in Surrey today unable to get to work, I would feel quite as warmly as I do”.
