Members of the RMT union working for train operators have voted to accept a pay deal, marking an end in part to the long-running national rail dispute.
The union announced an overwhelming vote in favour in an electronic ballot of a 5% pay deal for 2022-23, allowing talks to continue on a further deal for 2023-24 without the threat of strikes or redundancies.
The train drivers union Aslef remains in dispute and a week of action including an overtime ban and rolling strikes begins on Friday.
The government said that the overall funding had not changed. However, the deal, giving staff a pay rise backdated to April 2022, comes without any changes to terms and conditions, and without the threat of ticket office closures.
The RMT general secretary, Mick Lynch, said: “Our members have spoken in huge numbers to accept this offer and I want to congratulate them on their steadfastness in this long industrial campaign. We will be negotiating further with the train operators over reforms they want to see, and we will never shy away from vigorously defending our members’ terms and conditions, now or in the future.
“This campaign shows that sustained strike action and unity gets results and our members should be proud of the role they have played in securing this deal.”
Talks on a pay rise due from April 2023 will take place early next year at individual train operators, with a further pay rise potentially dependent on changes to working arrangements. The union said no fresh ballots for strikes would be held until at least April, should talks break down.
The transport secretary, Mark Harper, said: “This is welcome news for passengers and a significant step towards resolving industrial disputes on the railway, giving workers a pay rise before Christmas and a pathway to delivering long overdue reforms.
“It remains the case that the train drivers’ union Aslef continue to block their members from having a say on the offer that would take train drivers’ median salaries from £60,000 to £65,000 for a 35-hour, four-day week. Aslef should follow the RMT’s lead and give their members a say.”
A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group, representing train operators, said: “This welcome vote from RMT members will unlock a pay rise for our people, and means that fair agreements have now been reached with three out of the four unions involved in the recent industrial dispute.”
They called on Aslef, the train drivers union, to call off the impending strikes, adding: “We want to reach a fair agreement which will get more trains running on time and put the railway on a sustainable footing, at a time when taxpayers are contributing an extra £54m a week to keep services running post Covid.”
Drivers will be taking industrial action at train operating companies contracted to the Department for Transport in England from Friday in the form of a nationwide overtime ban until Saturday 9 December. They will also strike for 24 hours on different dates between Saturday 2 December and Friday 8 December, stopping most or all trains at the affected operators.
Drivers will strike at East Midlands and LNER this Saturday; at Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, Great Northern, Thameslink and West Midlands on Sunday; at C2C and Greater Anglia on Tuesday; at Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express and South Western on Wednesday; at CrossCountry and GWR on Thursday; and at Northern and TransPennine Express next Friday.
