The new offer includes an uplift on salaries of between 14.4% for the lowest paid grades to 9.2% for the highest paid
The RMT union has secured a major victory today over pay, jobs and conditions after a long running dispute with Network Rail.
The new offer includes an uplift on salaries of between 14.4% for the lowest paid grades to 9.2% for the highest paid as well as a total uplift on basic earnings between 15.2% for the lowest paid grades to 10.3% for the highest paid grades. This represents an additional 1.1 per cent over the duration of the deal.
Members will also benefit from increased back pay, with Network Rail withdrawing their previous insistence that the offer be conditional on RMT accepting the company’s ‘modernising maintenance’ agenda.
The latest pay offer has been accepted by 76% of members on a 90% turnout.
The victory shows how strike action works and how badly the Tories failed in their attempts to turn the public against rail workers and the strikes.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that when the union first declared the dispute with Network Rail a year ago in the Spring of 2022, it was told that Network Rail workers would only get two per cent to three per cent.
“However, since then strike action and the inspiring solidarity and determination of members has secured new money and a new offer which has been clearly accepted by our members and that dispute is now over.
“Our dispute with the Train Operating Companies remains firmly on and our members recent highly effective strike action across the fourteen train companies has shown their determination to secure a better deal.
“If the government now allows the train companies to make the right offer, we can then put that to our members but until then the strike action scheduled for March 30 and April 1 will take place.
“The ball is in the government’s court,” he said.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
As you’re here, we have something to ask you. What we do here to deliver real news is more important than ever. But there’s a problem: we need readers like you to chip in to help us survive. We deliver progressive, independent media, that challenges the right’s hateful rhetoric. Together we can find the stories that get lost.
We’re not bankrolled by billionaire donors, but rely on readers chipping in whatever they can afford to protect our independence. What we do isn’t free, and we run on a shoestring. Can you help by chipping in as little as £1 a week to help us survive? Whatever you can donate, we’re so grateful - and we will ensure your money goes as far as possible to deliver hard-hitting news.
