I’m sure you’ve seen it in the news recently: mass disruption on the rail networks and people unable to travel to work. I’m sure you’ve also been told by the media that the cause of this are the “evil” and dreaded union bosses. Selfish strikers causing chaos all across the land. But why?

You show me a “villainous” rail worker, going on strike, causing the country to come to a grinding halt and I’ll show you a parent, struggling to feed their family, failing to keep up with rising bills because their wages aren’t rising with them. It’s clear to me who the real villains are. National rail boss Andrew Haines had a salary increase of 8.1%. While the Consumer Price Index interest is at 9.2%, making this seem like a fair rise, this has taken his yearly salary from £544,000 to £588,000. Compare this to the measly 3% offered, taking the median rail worker salary which, according to the RMT union and the office for National Statistics, is just over £31,000.

Rail service provider bosses are harder to track. Having outsourced these services to private companies, there are all kinds of companies from all over the world with no interest at improving conditions, pay or rail infrastructure, leaving companies in a disheveled state.

But how can this be avoided? This pointless back and forth bickering between the stubborn unions and the dismissive rail bosses and government officials is only causing more disruption. While the obvious solutions lie at unions cancelling strikes due to a compromise or the Government giving in and giving a pay rise, neither of these are likely to happen, nor are long term plans.

The solution that fits the best for this would be to nationalise the railways. This would raise salaries for workers as there would be a lot less reliance on profits for shareholders and salaries for bosses. While this may seem a bit of a waste of public money at first, this is an idea that fits into the bigger picture of Labour policy. With a nationalised rail company, this would allow a Labour government to provide better pay and conditions for workers, but also to dramatically improve rail infrastructure.

This is big news for rural areas such as Cornwall because lots of people rely on trains to move in, out and around the county. There are also several plans and programmes put forward by Labour to increase electrification of the lines. This, when tied into the publicly-owned GB energy company Labour would create, will be a huge step forwards towards reducing carbon emissions. The nationalisation of rail companies would both give fairer pay and working conditions to workers, have huge green implications and help secure a future for the United Kingdom’s historic rail networks. It’s time for a greener, fairer future for Cornwall.