THE TSSA has slammed an MPs’ report into the Minimum Service Levels law as “blatant attempt to bribe people to scab.”

The transport select committee on Thursday challenged the government to ensure the Act’s regulations meet nine legal principles.

Chair Iain Stewart MP said: “We can’t accept an increased risk of lives being put in danger due to a lack of key staff such as signallers, or of those with access needs being neglected if they experience difficulty.”

TSSA interim general secretary Peter Pendle said: “One of these recommendations is to pay staff more if they have to work on strike days — a blatant attempt to bribe people to scab.

“Another recommendation says that passengers with access needs must receive the same support as they are entitled to on regular travel days.

“What blatant hypocrisy from a government currently trying to force through ticket office closures in the face of outcry from disability and pensioner groups.

“Ultimately the Minimum Service Levels law is there to undermine workers’ right to strike. It’s anti-democratic and unworkable.

“The public will see these proposals for what they are — a belated attempt to make this unfair and undemocratic legislation look palatable.

“But nothing can hide the fact that this laws is designed by a hypocritical Tory government to take away workers’ fundamental right to strike.”

The draconian anti-union legislation became law earlier this year but details of those regulations and how they could work in practice have yet to be unveiled by the Department for Transport (DfT). 

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said its proposals were “dreamt up in Tory think tanks [and] would inevitably lead to more chaos on the railways and increase safety risks.”