The shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, has defended union bosses planning a wave of strikes on the railways, in airports and at the Post Office in the run-up to Christmas.

“Of course these strikes are going to be very disastrous if they all go ahead for the public over Christmas, but people do have a legal right to strike,” Abbott told the Sky News presenter Dermot Murnaghan. She added: “It’s not my role to second-guess the decisions of trade union leadership.”

But Meg Hillier, the Labour MP who chairs the public accounts committee, warned on the same programme that unions could be “shooting themselves in the foot” by opting for industrial action over the festive season. “There needs to be a wake-up call about the impact on hard-working people trying to get to work or go on holiday,” she said.

The prime minister, Theresa May, is reportedly facing calls from Conservative colleagues to crack down on industrial action, but Abbott said she would oppose any plans to limit the right to strike.

Industrial action by conductors in the RMT union on the Southern rail franchise are expected to bring a second week of havoc to 300,000 passengers between London and the south coast, with further strikes planned for next month. The move follows industrial action by the drivers’ union Aslef last week that entirely shut down the network for three days.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are also facing walkouts over Christmas. There will be talks on Tuesday between the airport services company Swissport and Unite, aimed at averting a 48-hour strike due to start on Friday by 1,500 baggage handlers and other airport staff in a dispute over pay.

Unite’s general secretary, Len McCluskey, welcomed Swissport’s decision to seek mediation. “This is a clearly a positive development. We are pleased that the company will sit down with us in an effort to resolve this dispute,” he said. “We are confident that our members’ case is extremely strong and that fairness will prevail.”

The Post Office is facing possible shutdowns of branches as members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) strike in a pay dispute.



The former cabinet ministers Lord Heseltine and Lord Tebbit were among the Tory figures quoted in the Sunday Telegraph who called on May to take a tough line on trade unions. Heseltine said: “You cannot have small groups of people holding society to ransom, regardless of personal inconvenience or cost.”

The paper reported that about 20 MPs had called on the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, to take action against strikes. MPs in seats across Southern’s network have faced angry demands for action from their constituencies, although the Department for Transport has declined to get involved in the long-running dispute between Southern’s operator, Govia Thameslink Railways (GTR), and Aslef and the RMT.

The RMT general secretary, Mick Cash, was forced to deny that the union was part of a “Trot conspiracy” after the Sunday Times published a video showing the RMT union president, Sean Hoyle, at a rally saying trade unions were working together to “bring down this bloody working-class-hating Tory government”.

Cash said: “We are a serious trade union dealing with serious issues around safety on the railways. That is our absolute priority. RMT is not party to any Trot conspiracy to bring down government.”

RMT has spent months locked in a bitter dispute with GTR over the company’s plans to introduce driver-only trains, which would allow some services to run without a second staff member on board. The company says this would reduce delays and cancellations when a second staff member is not available, but the union says it poses a safety risk.

Aslef has joined the row, striking for three days last week and entirely shutting down the Southern network. On Friday, its general secretary, Mick Whelan, wrote to members that talks at the mediation service Acas had been unsuccessful, and “at no time during the course of discussions did the company make any kind of formal offer” to end the dispute. A GTR spokeswoman said no further talks were planned but “our door remains open”.

The RMT begins two days of strikes on Monday, while Aslef continues to enforce an overtime ban. GTR’s passenger services director, Angie Doll, said: “We know this is a busy time for passengers, and we are truly sorry that this damaging industrial action is making life even harder.”

Speaking on Murnaghan, Abbott said Southern had been a catastrophe, adding: “We need to take that franchise away from Southern and give it to the mayor of London.”



Talks aimed at averting strikes by some British Airways and airport ground staff are planned for next week. A BA spokeswoman said the company would announce plans to minimise disruption to passengers if a 48-hour strike by some cabin crew due to start on Christmas Day goes ahead. The company has approached Acas for mediation talks with the Unite union, the spokeswoman said.

On Friday, Virgin Atlantic pilots in the Professional Pilots’ Union voted for action short of a strike starting on 23 December and continuing indefinitely, in a row over union recognition. Pilots will work strictly to their contracts, with the removal of “pilot goodwill” which could lead to some flight disruption.

The Royal Mail has said it does not anticipate trouble for postal services in the run-up to Christmas despite a planned strike on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday by Post Office staff belonging to the CWU. A spokeswoman for the Post Office said the strike would only affect the 300 branches it directly manages, as the majority of the country’s 11,000 branches are managed through franchise arrangements. A previous strike in early December led to fewer than 100 branch closures, she added.