It’s official: Mick Lynch has done more for working people in recent days than Keir Starmer in more than two years as Labor leader.
You know, the real Work Party, supposed to represent working people, who are currently under pressure from spiraling inflation, skyrocketing energy bills and long-term wage cuts – the clue is in the name, Keir.
Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT union, swept the floor with politicians and TV reporters as he defended this week’s railway workers’ strike – and explains, with saintly patience, why it’s happening. is necessary.
Regarding the media tour; he came, he saw, he conquered. Cue a slew of celebratory memes, featuring Mick Lynch as Chuck Norris, and videos of him “bodying” Tories. His Wikipedia entry was edited to read: “He holds the record for most asses distributed in his media appearances on June 21, 2022.” Actor Hugh Laurie tweeted: “I don’t know not enough about the rail conflict. I only observe that RMT’s Mick Lynch has cleaned up all the media picadors who tried their luck today.
A solid and imperturbable presence, Lynch just ain’t phased by “nonsense”, such as Tory MP Jonathan Gullis’ attempt to make people believe that the RMT and strikers don’t care about veterans, or that they should apologize to doctors and nurses. You can feel the desperation, and in a way I feel for Gullis, MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, because it all seems so transparent to me.
Fast! Get out our beloved NHS (where nurses are forced to use food banks, but don’t mention it) and the brave armed forces! This will put Joe Public up in arms against people who have the temerity to use their bargaining power after negotiations have failed in a raging tornado of cost of living crisis!
Mick Lynch can’t stand any of this. He manages to make it pretty obvious that his tolerance for bull**** is low, but he’s only going to get upset when he really has to. He delivers his arguments with clarity and enough passion to become a socialist pin-upbut without being accused of hysteria or being, you know, too revolutionary. It also helps that – in my opinion – he is on the right side of the argument.
Next to Lynch, Keir Starmer looks at every square inch of the cardboard man. Gray and vapid, he seems more concerned with what the Tories might say than with defending working people – those he is supposed to represent.
He’s the politician whose leadership manifesto, the 10-pledge platform on which he ran for office, included “strengthening workers’ rights and unions.”
If anyone needs a reminder, it reads: “Work hand in hand with unions to defend workers, fight precarious work and low wages. Repeal the law on trade unions. Oppose the Conservatives’ attacks on the right to take industrial action and the weakening of workplace rights.
It’s funny, then, that he refused to openly support railroad strikes and banned his constituents from picket lines.
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Mick Lynch’s refusal to apologize for doing his job – fighting for the fair pay railway workers deserve, who all worker deserves, while Starmer essentially neglects his — is a stark reminder of the deep and enduring disappointment of the past two years under his leadership.
It seems to me that ever since Starmer began to show that he had no intention of keeping the promises he had made to get elected by party members, he has shattered the Corbyn project – and abandoned the common sense, leftist principles that just might make this country work for more people than a handful of wealthy elites – hope has been dangerously scarce.
Analysis of Google’s search data shows searches for “join a union” skyrocketed by 184% in the UK as of June 22. This is the highest level in more than a year, according to recruitment experts Workello. This means workers standing up for their rights and supporting themselves. If we don’t, no one will do it for us – not this government, and clearly not the current Labor leadership.
Mick Lynch is on his way to becoming a national treasure. The iconic moment when he stood up to Labor Baroness Chapman and told her ‘I don’t even know who you are’ was social media gold. Maybe it’s because we’ve been so incredibly hungry for a vibrant left-wing Labor Party over the past two years, but to me Lynch is like a bottle of ice-cold water hitting the parched throats of people lost in a desert.
