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RMT to end rail strikes after members accept pay deal

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT, said the campaign of industrial action showed that “sustained strike action and unity gets results”…reports Asian Lite News

Members of the RMT union have voted to accept a pay deal and end almost 18 months of strikes across the UK rail network.

The country’s largest transport union on Thursday said its members had “spoken in huge numbers” to accept the offer.

The agreement represents a big breakthrough in the long dispute between rail workers and train operators and the government that first erupted in the summer of last year.

But rail passengers still face disruption in the coming days as Aslef, the train drivers’ union, begins its latest series of walkouts over pay and proposed changes to working practices, with no sign of a deal in sight.

RMT members accepted an offer of a backdated pay rise of 5 per cent for the 2022-23 financial year, plus job security guarantees and no changes to working conditions.

Difficult talks between unions and industry over modernisation will instead be pushed into next year and negotiated at a local level by individual train companies.

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT, said the campaign of industrial action showed that “sustained strike action and unity gets results”.

He added: “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.” With revenues way below pre-pandemic levels, the government has been pushing train operators to cut costs through big changes to working practices — the government controls the purse strings of the industry.

According to industry data released earlier this week, passenger revenues in the 12 months to the end of March were £8.6bn and state subsidies totalled £11.9bn, compared with £12bn and £7.4bn respectively in the year before the pandemic hit.

Mark Harper, transport secretary, said the deal with the RMT was “welcome news for passengers and a significant step towards resolving industrial disputes on the railway”.

The Rail Delivery Group, which represents the industry, said the deal meant agreements have been sealed with three out of the four unions on the rail network. “Unfortunately, the Aslef leadership’s decision to call further industrial action means passengers still face disruption between December 1 and 9,” it said.

Aslef members will stage six days of “rolling” strikes at 16 train companies from Saturday, with drivers at different operators walking out on each day. The union has also imposed an overtime ban, which begins on Friday and will cause disruption across the network until December 9.

“We are determined to win this dispute and get a significant pay rise for train drivers who have not had an increase since 2019 while the cost of living, in that time, has soared,” said Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary.

The union rejected a pay and reform offer worth 8 per cent over two years in April, and rail industry executives are gloomy at the prospect of a deal.

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Rail union announces three days of strikes  

Unions say any pay offer should reflect the rising cost of living. Inflation – the pace of general price rises – is at 8.7%…reports Asian Lite News

Thousands of rail workers will strike on three days in July as part of a long-running dispute about pay and conditions. Strikes at 14 rail firms have been called on 20, 22 and 29 July, the RMT union said. It said negotiations with rail firms and the government had stalled.

But train operators said the action was “totally unnecessary” and urged the union to put the latest pay offer to its members.

Previous strikes in the dispute have caused widespread disruption. Unions are pushing for more pay as the cost of living rises rapidly, but rail firms have said they will not pay more without concessions on conditions.

The RMT said 20,000 of its members, including guards, train managers and station staff, would walk out after train operators did not make a new offer.

Its general secretary, Mick Lynch, said that train operators and the government had not “made any attempt whatsoever to arrange any meetings or put forward a decent offer that can help us reach a negotiated solution”.

“The government continues to shackle the companies and will not allow them to put forward a package that can settle this dispute,” he added.

The latest strike dates coincide with sporting events including the fourth and fifth Ashes Tests and The Open golf championship.

Unions say any pay offer should reflect the rising cost of living. Inflation – the pace of general price rises – is at 8.7%.

The latest pay offer from the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, was a backdated pay rise of 5% for 2022.

Unions would then have to agree to reforms before members could get a second year’s pay rise of 4%, negotiated with individual operators.

The RDG said more strikes were “totally unnecessary”, and that all the RMT had achieved was losing its members more money than they would have got from pay offers.

“We have now made three offers that the RMT executive have blocked without a convincing explanation,” a spokesperson said. A senior rail source said union members had lost £2,000 of pay through strike action so far.

“Negotiation has got us nothing. We have compromised on pay, job protections and issues like driver only trains,” the source said.

“Nothing is ever enough, every one of our offers have been rejected – not even by our staff who have not cast a single vote. No more ransom demands, the industry must change to survive,” the source added.

The Department for Transport said the strikes were “targeting two iconic international sporting events” and would disrupt families at the start of the school summer holidays.

“After a year of industrial action, passengers and rail workers alike are growing tired of union bosses playing politics with their lives,” a spokesperson said.

The government has helped train operators put forward “fair and reasonable pay offers that would see generous increases for rail workers,” the spokesperson said. “Union leaders should do the right thing and give their members a chance to vote on these pay offers.”

The strikes announcement comes on the day that Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said wage rises “cannot continue” at the rate they have been if inflation is to come down, reiterating Bank calls for restraint from workers.

The union’s industrial action began a year ago, and last month, members voted for another six months of action.

Industry group UK Hospitality said the rail strikes were a “hammer blow” for firms including pubs, bars and restaurants.

“Strike disruption over the past year has already cost the hospitality sector £3.25bn in lost sales and there is no doubt that figure will increase as a result of these strike days,” said the group’s chief executive Kate Nicholls.

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Strikes may continue into 2023, warns union

Jim Campell (Twitter)

The head of the PCS union representing staff has warned that industrial action could last well in to the new year…reports Asian Lite News

Strikes could continue into 2023 unless the government enters talks with unions over wages, the TUC head has warned.

General secretary Paul Nowak accused the government of “stonewalling” pay negotiations with unions.

There has been widespread industrial action across the public and private sectors as living costs have soared.

The government said if public sector wages rose in line with the cost of living, it would lead to “worsening debt”, leaving “everyone poorer”.

Nowak said: “If the government refuses to negotiate, I think we may see more industrial action as we go in to 2023”.

Nurses across England, Wales and Northern Ireland held the largest strike in the history of the NHS during December and more action is planned for January.

Meanwhile, train and postal services have been disrupted as rail workers and Royal Mail staff walked out in rows over pay and conditions.

The rate of price rises – or inflation – reached 10.7% in November, the highest in 40 years, stoked by soaring energy bills.

The Bank of England has raised interest rates throughout 2022, taking borrowing costs to a 14-year high of 3.5%.

Nowak, who is replacing Frances O’Grady as head of the TUC, said workers “feel that they have no alternative [to strike] because they’re facing yet another real-terms pay cut”.

“And when you think about those energy bills landing, the cost of the weekly shop, filling up your car, rents and mortgages going up, the one thing that isn’t going up is wages.”

“We have been reasonable in our approach to agreeing to the independent pay review bodies’ recommendations for public sector pay rises,” a government spokesperson said.

“An inflation-matching pay increase of 11% for all public sector workers would cost £28bn. That would be a cost to each household of just under £1,000”, the spokesperson added.

Rail strikes will continue on Thursday, 29 December as TSSA union members at West Midlands Trains and Great Western Railway walk out in a row over pay as well as terms and conditions.

Border Force staff, including many who check passports, are staging further strikes which will last until 31 December, although disruption at six airports affected has been reported as “minimal”.

Driving examiners who are PCS members are also on strike until 31 December in a row over pay, pensions and redundancy terms, and action will continue throughout January.

The head of the PCS union representing staff has warned that industrial action could last well in to the new year.

Rail travel in the first week of January, when many people return to work after Christmas, is expected to be disrupted because of strike action.

Members of the RMT union will walk out on Tuesday, 3 January and Wednesday, 4 January. They will strike again on Friday, 6 January and Saturday, 7 January.

Network Rail, which operates and maintains the UK rail system, has warned people to “only travel if absolutely necessary” on those days.

In addition, members of Aslef will walk out on Thursday, 5 January. Train operator Southeastern has warned there will be no services on that date and severe disruption on the days before and after due to the RMT strikes.

Scott Brightwell, operations and safety director at Southeastern, said: “We urge you to check our dedicated, up-to-date, strike page before travelling.

“Train services are expected to be extremely busy on the routes that are running on RMT strike days, and so we’d advise our customers to make their journeys later in the morning and earlier in the evening if they can.”

The Rail Delivery Group, which represents the train operators, said the RMT strikes will mean only around 20% of services will operate and “half of the network will shut down”.

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