RMT union rail workers planning a British strike this month will be "hit in their pay packets" under plans being drawn up by UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps with industry chiefs.
The Telegraph says he is proposing to bar striking rail staff from claiming overtime to which they are traditionally entitled to return the service to normal as quickly as possible after a walkout.
Mr Shapps is determined that striking rail workers should not be allowed to "milk the system" by claiming overtime after "inflicting misery" on the public when they walk out on June 21, 23 and 25.
"The traditional mistake during strikes is that you pay staff to work overtime, putting right the damage they've done. We won't be making that mistake this time. Striking will result in a full and absolute loss of pay," said a Department for Transport (DfT) source.
The crackdown comes on top of plans to make it easier to bring in cover and possibly agency workers to break strikes, although this will require a parliamentary rule change that the DfT cannot introduce before the June industrial action.
Ministers are also planning new laws requiring minimum numbers of rail staff to work during a strike to avoid a total shutdown of the network, but these are described as "medium-term" changes that might take six months.
More than 50,000 railway workers are due to walk out later this month in what will be the biggest dispute on the rail network since 1989. In a separate dispute over pensions and job losses, London Underground RMT members will strike on June 21.
Meanwhile, ScotRail is expecting to meet with the RMT union this week in a bid to resolve its pay dispute.
Last Thursday, ScotRail said that the RMT had rejected a 5% pay offer - but a spokesman for RMT said this was "incorrect".
The union has said the offer had not been rejected, but it would be discussed with its national executive.
A ScotRail spokesman told the Press and Journal: "On Thursday, the RMT advised ScotRail it had rejected the pay offer and would proceed to ballot for industrial action.
"RMT has now requested a further meeting and we are happy to speak with them again."
Saying reports the offer had been rejected were "incorrect", RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: "This matter has not been considered by our national executive committee and will be put before them so they can make a decision."
It also emerged last Thursday that the pay row between ScotRail and its train drivers could soon be over.
Aslef, the union representing drivers, has agreed to a 5% pay deal with the recently-nationalised train operator.
It had previously rejected a 4.2% rise in a row which led ScotRail to introduce a much-reduced timetable when drivers refused to work on rest days.