New TUC leader calls for meeting with Rishi Sunak over strikes

Paul Nowak says frontline workers need a fair deal' and urges PM to open pay negotiations with unions

• UK strike calendar: service stoppages in January

The new leader of the TUC has called for an urgent meeting with the prime minister in an attempt to end the strikes causing widespread disruption to rail travel, the NHS and other public services.

Paul Nowak, who took up the role of general secretary of the TUC on 29 December, said frontline workers needed a fair deal" and called on the government to change tack by opening pay negotiations with unions.