The greatest danger presented by the rail strikes – for the Government, that is – has passed. The trade unions, chief among them the RMT, fronted by the alternately reasonable and hectoring Mick Lynch, threw everything they could at ministers in the run-up to the holidays. It did not work.
Much the same applies, to a greater or lesser degree, to other public sector strikes. There was a cynical – and concerted – attempt to use the Christmas and New Year break as an emotive deadline. This was apparently based on a gamble that enough of the public would blame the Government for ‘ruining Christmas’ to force a generous settlement. There were times when this looked set to become a general strike in all but name and it seemed the gamble could pay off.
In the end, though, ministers did not blink. With the holidays passed, there is no natural new deadline for the unions to focus on.
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