The RMT union has announced that its planned rail strikes in the coming weeks will go ahead, with additional industrial action to take place over Christmas.
Following a meeting with Network Rail, the union’s general secretary Mick Lynch told reporters on Monday that the RMT was giving its members a week to vote on the organisation’s most recent offer – but was advising them to reject it.
“At the moment we’ve not got the means to a solution,” Mr Lynch said.
Despite putting the offer to union members, Mr Lynch announced that all of its planned rail strikes in December and January will still go ahead – and revealed that Network Rail workers will now additionally be instructed not to book on at work from 6pm on 24 December until 6am on 27 December.
This new phase of strike action coincides with the wind-down of the National Rail’s passenger service and with the commencement of engineering works scheduled over the festive period, Mr Lynch said.
The new strike will replace an overtime ban that had previously been planned between 18 December and 2 January. Under the current plan, more than 40,000 rail staff are due to walk out across Network Rail and 14 train operating companies on 13, 14, 16 and 17 December and on 3, 4, 6 and 7 January.
Union members will have until midday on 12 December to vote in an electronic referendum on Network Rail’s “improved” offer – a faster process than the typically fortnight-long postal vote.
Network Rail, which runs tracks and many stations, made a new offer on Sunday to backdate a pay rise of 5 per cent to the start of 2022, and a 4 per cent raise next year. It offered to guarantee no compulsory redundancies until 31 January 2025, and improve the ticket discount scheme for staff and family members.
“I am sure the travelling public will be really disappointed and irritated and angry,” Mr Lynch said as he announced the new strikes on Monday evening, but warned that the current offer is “extremely detrimental” to his members.
The union has another meeting tomorrow with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) – whose separate offer of an 8 per cent pay rise over two years with a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies until April 2024 was already rejected outright by the RMT on Sunday.
Inflation is at its highest rate since 1981 – with prices rising by 11.1 per cent in the year to October, according to the Consumer Price Index.
Mr Lynch said he feared that rail bosses with the RDG had not been given a “mandate” by the government to improve their offer to workers.
“At the moment we haven’t got anything that is acceptable to us. We feel that we’ve been compelled to take this action because of the intransigence of the government, delivered to us by employers … and we’ve got no choice,” Mr Lynch said.
“Because what we’ve been faced with is an extremely detrimental offer. It’s very poor in relation to the pay elements and our members simply aren’t in a position – from the feedback that we’ve had – to accept the changes that the companies have put on the table.”
Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street had insisted hours earlier that the RDG’s was the “right offer”, urging the RMT to “think again” on its upcoming strikes.
Conservative former levelling up secretary Simon Clarke called the RMT’s decision “dreadful”, accusing them of “ruining people's Christmases with an 8 per cent pay rise over two years on the table (and no compulsory redundancies)”.
Network Rail’s offer was also put to Unite and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) unions. The latter, which also rejected the RDG offer, said on Monday that it had received a “significantly better” offer from Network Rail after a weekend of talks.
The “best and final offer” was received in writing from Network Rail, and the TSSA has decided to put it to its members – suspended its planned industrial action for December.
“This offer is the best we can achieve through negotiation, and it was undoubtedly improved because of the ballot results and strike action taken by our members, who we applaud,” said Luke Chester, the union’s organising director.
He added: “This offer shows what can be achieved when employers and unions are able to negotiate in good faith. It is significantly better than the offer put by the Rail Delivery Group, which we have rejected.
“On every issue – job security, pay and conditions – the RDG offer falls short and is shackled by government interference. They need to look at what can be achieved when negotiations are not hindered and come back to the table with an improved offer that allows us to resolve this dispute once and for all.”
