The RMT was under pressure on Wednesday to call off four days of forthcoming national rail strikes after suspending action involving its members at Network Rail.
The union, led by Mick Lynch, announced on Tuesday night that it had cancelled a planned 24-hour walkout and subsequent overtime ban by signallers and maintenance staff at the rail infrastructure firm.
But linked action by RMT members at 14 train firms, affecting key commuter routes such as Thameslink, Southern and Southeastern, is still on the cards, with sources indicating that this part of the union’s battle over pay and working conditions in a “different place”.
The first of the latest batch of rail strikes is due to take place on Thursday next week – a day after the London Underground is set to be shut by a walkout by RMT station staff and Aslef Tube drivers, who are in a separate dispute with Transport for London over pensions and working conditions.
TfL has warned passengers that the rail strike would disrupt the London Overground, the Elizabeth line and some parts of the Bakerloo and District lines.
There would also be a later start to Tube services next Thursday as a consequence of the knock-on impact of the Underground walkout.
The RMT rail strikes are due to be held on March 16, March 18, March 30 and April 1.
On Tuesday night it announced that its national executive committee had decided to “suspend all industrial action on Network Rail following receipt of a new offer from the employer”.
A RMT spokesman added: “Further updates will be given on all aspects of the national rail dispute in the coming days.”
It is thought a pay offer worth nine per cent over two years, with higher rates for lower paid workers, will be put to RMT members in a referendum.
But a similar deal for train staff has not been put to the vote, to the anger of the Department for Transport and the train firms.
The impact of the rail strikes will be less severe if RMT signallers are at work – allowing more trains to run.
But a further complicating factor in resolving the train dispute is that Aslef, which represents train drivers, also remains at loggerheads with the rail firms, though has not announced further strike dates.
A DfT spokesperson said on Wednesday: “It is positive news that the RMT has finally put this offer to their members and have called off upcoming industrial action by Network Rail workers.
“The RMT’s leaders must now put the best and final offer to their members in the train operating companies, who are still due to strike in the coming weeks and who are not being given the opportunity to vote on an offer.”
A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group, which negotiates on behalf of the train firms, said: “The RMT leadership’s decision to put Network Rail’s deal to its membership is a welcome development, but train operating staff will rightly be asking why their union continues to deny them the opportunity to have their say on our equivalent offer.
“Instead of inflicting more lost pay on its members and disruption to our passengers, we are calling on the union to call off their strikes and meet us for urgent talks to resolve this dispute.”
A rail industry source said: “Train companies have said for six weeks now that all RMT members should have the chance to vote on our offer, which is equivalent to the one made by Network Rail. This move by the RMT simply underlines the case for giving their members across the industry a say.
“We’ve seen more RMT members turning up for work on strike days and given the importance of signallers, who work for Network Rail, to our ability to run trains, we are hopeful that train operators will be able to run some more services if the planned strikes go ahead. However, there will still be an impact and, as usual, customers should check before they travel.
“Overall, it’s now clear that the RMT leadership should call those four strikes off and just give their members a democratic vote.”
