Mick Lynch leads a middle-class union

Mick Lynch told Mishal Husain this week that it is about time she started showing partiality to Britain’s working people. Leave aside the assertion that the BBC should break its impartiality guidelines to please Mick Lynch, is he really representing the working classes? Unless you count as ‘working class’ everyone who does any paid work, the answer is somewhat questionable. The fact is that members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union are significantly better off than Britain’s working population as a whole. Forget Lynch’s flat cap image: judged by income alone, the RMT’s rail members are thoroughly middle class. 

According to the Office for National Statistics even the lowest grade of rail worker – rail assistants, who might sell you a ticket, for example – earn a median wage of £37,740. By contrast, the median wage across the entire economy is £33,000. Rail construction workers earn a median wage of £38,409, rail operatives earn a median wage of £50,560.