MANCHESTER, England — On Oct. 8, their third day of strike action, rail workers here were joined by Danny Taylor, a leader of the six-month-long Unite union refuse workers strike in Birmingham, a delegation from the Fire Brigade Union and representatives of the Manchester Trades Union Council.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union members were protesting outside the offices of Carlisle Support Service, a contractor Northern Trains uses to check tickets. Their strike began after Carlisle refused to raise workers’ wages above the UK Living Wage, set by the government at 12.60 pounds ($16.75) an hour. The over 150 RMT union members had won union recognition for the first time last year, as well as for all 14 Carlisle’s contracts with rail companies around the country.
“I’m confident you can win,” Steve Shaw, the RMT union regional organizer, told the strikers at a public meeting after the protest. “You’ve won before over union recognition.” As well as the three days of strike action, union steward Gary Corrigan explained RMT workers have been refusing to scan tickets since Sept. 3, meaning riders travel free. “This is hurting both Carlisle and Northern Trains,” Shaw said.
He welcomed Taylor to the meeting. “You are not alone,” Taylor said, describing how hundreds of refuse workers had been on strike resisting an 8,000-pound pay cut. “We will not be intimidated, we will not be broken, we will fight on,” he said. “Let me tell you something: From Birmingham to Manchester — your strength is in your unity. It’s the bosses who are scared. They are terrified when working people stand together,” he said.
Taylor also told the rail workers he had just gotten word that 15 agency workers who had been crossing their picket lines had just that day joined the refuse workers on strike.