The Government is threatening to change the law so agency workers can fill in striking staff, but the RMT says the move will be met with "fierce resistance" from the trade union movement.
A report in the Sunday Telegraph claims Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has not ruled out a rule change that would reverse a restriction that stops employers from hiring agency workers to cover for striking staff, and would apply it to all sectors, including transport.
The report comes ahead of three days of train strikes planned by Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union members working for Network Rail and 13 leading train operators in the UK, including LNER, Northern, CrossCountry and TransPennine.
Read more : The trains and stations set to be affected by June 2022 RMT rail strike
The law change was proposed in the Conservative Party manifesto of 2015, which said: “We will … repeal nonsensical restrictions banning employers from hiring agency staff to provide essential cover during strikes.”
Mr Shapps told the newspaper any legal intervention would not affect June's railway strikes, but “further measures certainly would come in during this particular dispute, if it can’t be resolved”.
“I’ll be saying more about this. But we will be looking at the full suite of modernisation that’s required,” he said.
“The country must not continue to be held to ransom. These strikes are incredibly premature and we will use every possible lever to ensure that the public is protected in the future in particular.
“I can’t over-stress our determination to get the right outcome for the travelling public in the end on this, even if the unions insist on putting the country through considerable pain in the meantime.”
In an interview with The Sun, Mr Shapps claimed train staff are being misled, in some cases, by "Marxists" who he claims are "determined to turn this into some sort of fight, as they see it, with a Tory Government”.
“When you look at the people who work on the railways, many of them have done a phenomenal job,” he said.
“They are being led by union barons, in some cases, very extreme, Marxists, who are determined to turn this into some sort of fight, as they see it, with a Tory Government.
“The union barons have essentially told their members, you haven’t had a rise for two years, this strike is about pay. What they haven’t told their members is … the pay freeze has ended. So they’ve been invited to strike under false pretences.”
In response to the proposal to bring in agency staff to cover striking workers, the RMT tweeted: "Any responsible Government would seek to settle the dispute; sadly this one only wishes to escalate it."
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said in a statement: "Grant Shapps needs to stop smearing the RMT and unshackle the rail operating companies so they can come to a negotiated settlement that can end this dispute.
"Railway workers voted overwhelmingly for strike action in defence of their jobs and for a pay rise that deals with the rising cost of living. It is insulting to them to suggest they do not understand the issues that affect their daily lives or cannot make a democratic decision by themselves.
"We already have the most restrictive anti-democratic trade union laws in Western Europe and if the Government attempts to reduce our rights further, the RMT along with the rest of the trade union movement will mount the fiercest resistance possible."
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) tweeted: "The Government is looking to lift the ban on the use of agency workers during strikes.
This would undermine the right to strike and create safety risks for the public. Extremely reckless."
RMT members are due to strike on Tuesday June 21, Thursday June 22 and Saturday June 25 in a dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. It is set to be the biggest railway strike in decades.
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