Jon Cruddas: ‘Labour party must support’ rail workers in pay dispute

theguardian.com:

Keir Starmer has been warned by one of his most experienced MPs he is in danger of making a huge error by failing to support railway workers in their pay dispute.

Jon Cruddas, who served as an adviser to Tony Blair on unions, said families faced a historic slump in their incomes. He said the Labour party should back workers fighting against effective pay cuts.

“We are seeing a unique historic contraction in family incomes,” he said. “The rail strikes are arguably the canary down the coalmine. You cannot dodge this. Labour has to be supportive of those seeking to defend their living standards.”

Starmer told Labour frontbench MPs last week they should stay away from picket lines during the rail strikes. Despite the edict, five frontbenchers attended the first day of industrial action on Tuesday.

Cruddas, the MP for Dagenham and Rainham, said Starmer’s team were trying to emulate New Labour by distancing themselves from the unions, but the economic circumstances were very different. He said the Tory government was trying to force working people to pick up the costs of the pandemic.

He said: “Having printed hundreds of billions of pounds thereby fuelling inflationary pressures, the government is determined to ensure working people carry the can.

“This is what Labour has to contest. It is going to be tough, but there is no safe ground – no way of hiding from this, no tactical dodge. It was why the party was actually created. It requires real leadership.”

Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary, said he would not tell Starmer how to run the party but it needed better policies to appeal to the rank and file workforce. He said Starmer “has not been able to tell working classes in traditional communities that ‘we’ve got a permanent