UNITY in purpose and action are essential if transport workers are to repulse the massive attacks facing them, newly elected RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said today.

Speaking at his first members’ meeting since being elected general secretary, Mr Lynch told the union’s Paddington No 1 branch that the industry was facing a concerted onslaught from ministers and employers under cover of coronavirus.

Mr Lynch said: “They want to attack everything we have built up over the decades: our pay, our conditions and our pensions — everything is in their crosshairs, and they are using Covid as a smokescreen for their attack.