Following Nickie's walkabout on Fleet Street where she heard from local businesses about the impact of the train strikes, Nickie Aiken, Member of Parliament for the Cities of London & Westminster, stood up in the House of Commons and raised their concerns directly with the Secretary of State for Business.
Speaking in the Chamber with the Secretary of State for Business, Grant Shapps MP, Nickie explained,
"Last week I met Daniel Jobsz, who runs the Wardrobe Bar and Kitchen in the City. He did not open last week; he said there was no point, because of the rail strike. Before Christmas, he lost tens of thousands of pounds because people were cancelling, as they could not come into central London because of the rail strike.
"UK Hospitality calculates that around £1 billion of business was lost in central London because of the rail strikes. Does my right hon. Friend agree that, while it is right to protect the right to strike, there must be legislation in place to protect businesses in other sectors, such as hospitality, and to protect workers from job losses?"
Secretary of State, Grant Shapps MP, replied,
"My hon. Friend makes an excellent point, and it brings me on to an important consideration, which is the disparity between the public sector settlements on offer and the average in the private sector at the moment, which has typically been lower. It is right that, as a responsible Government, we have to balance off all these different considerations across the economy. It is right that we consider those running small businesses—tea rooms, pubs and the services sector—in this balance, which is why minimum service levels, as well as minimum safety levels, are right for this economy."
