RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has said that the demands of employers are being ’ramped up’, rather than being eased after the recent three days of national rail strikes. He said it was normal for an employer to be a little more reasonable in talks following an industrial stoppage, but not on this occasion. He told his union’s AGM in Birmingham that the dispute was ‘the fight of our lifetime’, and accused Network Rail and the train operators of ‘doing the government’s rotten business and trying to cut thousands of jobs on the railways’.

MONDAY BRIEFING: Siemens expands Goole factory ++ Problems have delayed Welsh Vivarail plans ++