The boss of the train drivers’ union denounces the criticism of the strike on the eve of Eurovision

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The head of the train drivers’ union has violently attacked the transport secretary after criticizing a planned strike on the eve of the Eurovision Song Contest final for its impact on Ukraine.

Union members will quit on May 12 in a long-running wage dispute, as well as May 31 and June 3, the day of the FA Cup final.

Mark Harper said on Sky he would have thought railway workers would want to stand in solidarity with their Ukrainian counterparts, who were due to host the Eurovision final before it was moved to Liverpool due to the Russian invasion.

Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, said Mr Harper’s accusation was bizarre, implying that the union was not in solidarity with Ukraine.

He said: Of all the accusations I have ever heard, this is truly the most ridiculous.

He says that we are not in solidarity with Ukraine when he knows or should know that we have been in solidarity with the people of this country for much longer than he has.

We were visiting workers in this country when Mr. Harper and his Conservative Party cronies were still pocketing hundreds of thousands of pounds from Russian oligarchs close to Mr. Putin.

I went to Ukraine, I was there when the Russian tanks invaded and Aslef’s deputy general secretary, Simon Weller, was there to talk to the railway workers when the Russian bombs fell. Mr. Harper did not, and we are members of the Ukrainian Solidarity Campaign. Mr. Harper is not.

I am therefore not going to take lessons in solidarity from a Conservative minister who does not understand what he is talking about.

Standing side by side with the Ukrainian people has nothing to do with the Eurovision Song Contest, anyway, and we’re not even on strike on the day of the contest anyway.

The truth is that Mr Harper should tell the railroads to get back to the bargaining table and make train drivers who haven’t had a pay rise since 2019 a reasonable offer so they can buy this year what they could buy four years ago. Then there would be no more strikes.

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The sole responsibility for the ongoing strikes in this country in all the different sectors of the British economy are the government and the employers.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper speaks to the media outside the BBC Broadcasting House in London (Lucy North/PA)

Asking for a raise has absolutely nothing to do with Ukraine.

Mr Harper told Skys Sophy Ridge On Sunday: Well, I think it is very damaging that the railway unions are calling for strikes specifically targeting the Eurovision Song Contest.

I met the head of the Ukrainian railways and the Ukrainian railways were specifically targeted by Vladimir Putin, the railway workers were killed by the hundreds and I would have honestly thought that the railway workers would have wanted to stand in solidarity with them rather than aim for the Eurovision Song Contest which, remember, is not our song contest.

We were hosting it, but we were hosting it for Ukraine and I think I was cynically targeting events where hard-working men and women across the country spend their money trying to attend and target those whom I find it very cynical.

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