RMT boss Mick Lynch hit out at people referring to him as a baron when quizzed by GB News on the picket line this morning.
Mr Lynch joined striking rail workers at Euston Station, with only a third of services running in the UK bringing parts of the country to a standstill.
The dispute between the union and the government which centres around a payrise has turned bitter, with Grant Shapps accusing the union general secretary of trying to disrupt people's lives as much as possible.
And a campaign spokesman for Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss referred to union barons when discussing the strikes.
When asked if he minded being referred to as a baron, he told GB News that he does.
Mick Lynch doesn't want to be called a baron
Dominic Lipinski
He told us: "I'm an elected officer of this union. The people behind me, the men and women of the RMT elect me, and if I don't do my job properly they can throw me out through our democratic processes.
"I'm not a baron, I don't push them around, they're not my army.
"They tell me what to do, they tell me when deals are acceptable and they tell me through the voting process when they want to take industrial action.
"That's exactly what they're doing and that's why so many of them are turning out here and ll across the country because they're in charge of this dispute and they will determine when it's finished."
Mick Lynch at Euston Station
GB News
Mr Lynch also called on Labour leader Keir Starmer to do more to support working class people in Britain and support the strikes, as frontbenchers defy his calls not to join the picket line.
Mr Lynch added: "Working class people are struggling in this economy right now and have been for nearly a decade.
"He needs to ride that summer of solidarity we are seeing with many trade unions coming into campaigns and actions.
"Keir Starmer needs to stand up and identify himself with our campaign and other campaigns in the economy at the minute.
"I think he should do that and it would do him some good in the working class communities that lost out in the last election and lent their votes to the Tories, but can be won back for Labour."
