Rail strikes have cost the UK more than settling the disputes months ago would have, rail minister Huw Merriman has said. The strikes have cost the UK more than £1bn, he conceded.
Merriman added that if the government had settled with rail workers last year, it would have set a precedent for other public sector pay disputes.
"We have to look at what teachers are being given, and what nurses are being given as well," he said.
The RMT union said Merriman's statements amounted to an admission that "prolonging the rail dispute was part of a deliberate strategy that was dictated by the government's concern to keep down the pay of rail workers, nurses, ambulance workers and teachers".
"The wider economy and the business interests who relied on pre-Christmas trade were just collateral damage in that policy," said RMT general secretary Mick Lynch.
Train strikes: Cheaper to settle, minister admits - BBC News
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