Mick Lynch’s address to reporters outside the Department for Transport was interrupted by a particularly intrusive street preacher. For once, it was Mick, and not British rail passengers, having his plans disrupted by the righteous certainties of true believers…

After service was resumed, Mick Lynch took the opportunity to have a dig at GB News. He responded to a question from the broadcaster by asking “Is there anyone from a normal outlet?“. The clip was shared gleefully by PoliticsJOE.

Guido’s fairly sure GB News has a better record getting top political interviews than PoliticsJOE…

In recent days the UNISON union’s welfare fund has received a boost from a surprising source- the TaxPayers’ Alliance. The union-sceptic think tank made the donation after an error in reporting on their Trade Union Rich List. Guido doubts the “who funds you” brigade will hound the unions as much as they do the TPA…

They initially stated, incorrectly, that UNISON’s General Secretary Christina McAnea took home £225,891. In fact received a meagre £119,513 plus £12,756 in benefits, though some of her predecessor’s golden handshake was accidentally wrapped up in the TPA’s press-released figures. Tufton Street now funding unions: the Truss era’s truly over…

Just as the country braces for yet another round of rail and mail strikes, the TaxPayers’ Alliance has released their annual Trade Union Rich List, revealing the annual incomes of the top 30 public sector union bosses last year. The average pay packet? £152,272. Solidarity, comrades. 

Topping the list is Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, who trousered a whopping £222,094. An increase of £5,707 on 2020…

UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea received a very comfortable £119,500 plus £12,700 of additional benefits. This is, of course, the same Christina McAnea who’s threatening the biggest NHS strikes since the 1980s.

And as students brace for more education strikes, the Rich List also reveals nine senior staff at education unions took home £1,404,252 between them. Meanwhile the general secretary of the Communication Workers Union – the masterminds of the crippling mail strikes – took home £142,485. As always, nice work if you can get it…

On Monday transport unions voted to go full steam ahead with the ‘biggest rail strike in 25 years’. It is in this context the Taxpayers’ Alliance has revealed the annual renumeration of just two transport union barons to be £281,601. This is split between Aslef General Secretary Mick Whelan’s £151,371 and his assistant’s £130,230. These had been driven up by 10% on the previous year. By comparison, MPs salaries increased by just 2.7%. The Taxpayers’ Alliance adds:

“Taxpayers are fed up with lectures and disruption from loaded union leaders. These red barons are dooming commuters to misery, but are sitting comfortably as some of Britain’s biggest earners in taxpayer-backed unions. Ministers must take a stand against these hypocritical union heads.”

Commuters earning a fraction of their income will no doubt have time to reflect on this when their trains are cancelled…

Labour members of Unite have just rejected party bosses’ deal for a real-terms pay cut, voting in favour of strike action on an indicative ballot and demanding a meeting next week to re-negotiate. The cash-strapped party had offered workers a 2% pay rise next year – well below 5.1% inflation. All to fill a £3 million hole left by falling memberships, reduced union backing… and settling legal cases.

Speaking earlier this week ahead of the ballot, a Labour spokesperson said they’d been “open” about the party’s dire finances:

“We have been open about the challenges the party faces. Party staff have done great work to tackle these challenges and everyone is focused on ensuring we are ready to fight the next general election.”

They’ve done such great work they’re now being rewarded with real-terms pay cuts. Although GMB members actually voted in favour of the pay cut deal, Unite’s rejection prolongs the squabbling for at least another week. Apparently the party tried to soften the blow by claiming they’d make up the shortfall with ‘big donations’ – where or when those donations will actually come in is still anyone’s guess…

Masks are once again mandatory in secondary school communal areas for staff and pupils. Despite the current lack of concrete evidence that the Omicron variant is any more dangerous than Delta – the new measures are only here to “buy time” for scientists to better understand the threat – the NASUWT Teachers’ Union is already insisting these rules don’t go far enough.

Coincidentally, the Pearson National Teaching Awards ceremony was on Sunday, fifteen Gold Award winners were celebrated for excellence in their selected categories, with all the award-winning teachers, teaching assistants and lecturers being presented with their trophies at a glamorous ceremony at The Brewery in the City of London. This was the day after the Omicron variant restrictions were announced. Hundreds of teachers from across the country gathered for the packed awards ceremony – and almost no-one, with the exception of the waiting staff, wore masks.

It is fair to point out that they were within the rules. However the teaching unions want masks reintroduced for primary schools and in classrooms:

“The reintroduction of the requirement for face coverings to be worn in communal areas in all settings by staff and visitors and by pupils in year 7 and above, including on public transport, is helpful. But there is strong evidence that the Government needs to go further, including by reintroducing the requirement for wearing face coverings in classrooms in light of the persistently high daily number of Coronavirus cases.”

It’s one thing to call for yet more government restrictions nearly two years into a pandemic; it’s another to completely ignore them just days before grandstanding about it in the media…