TRANSPORT union leader Mick Cash has warned workers to be ready to fight “new threats to jobs, pay and pensions” in 2021.

Mr Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), said that 2021 will see new challenges after transport workers found themselves on the front-line during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a new year message to more than 85,000 members, he said: "No one could have predicted at the start of 2020 that we would experience a year like the one we are now closing the book on. 

“Each and every one of you is a hero and we know only too well the human cost, particularly amongst bus workers and others in public-facing roles.

"It remains a scandal that some support staff, particularly in catering and cleaning roles, have found themselves facing threats to their very livelihoods off the back of this crisis. 

"Our taxi members have also been cut adrift by government. This union stands by you at this critical time.

"We have seen wholesale threats of redundancies in the ferry sector and warnings of a jobs massacre offshore. 

"We have campaigned relentlessly as a trade union to make the case for protecting our transport, shipping and energy infrastructure to ensure that the we are fighting fit to kick-start the economy as the vaccines roll out and the current restrictions lift.

"We know that we will face new threats to jobs, pay and pensions in 2021. We need to be ready for that.

"As a strong, united and fighting trade union we will have to draw on all our resources in every sector and every workplace to see off those threats. 

"That responsibility will fall on all of us but standing together at this crucial time will be ‎the key to pulling through."