Rail unions refuse to save Christmas
RMT rejects 8pc offer and presses on with walkouts that threaten to wreck the holiday plans of millions
‘It’s not right that people should have their festive plans ruined by the RMT trying to hold the country to ransom’
‘This is a Christmas catastrophe for rail passengers – they will simply not return the longer the RMT strikes’
RAIL unions last night rejected an 8 per cent pay offer that would have averted debilitating Christmas train strikes.
The walkouts this month threaten to wreck the holiday travel plans of millions of people. The rejection of the offer from rail bosses means national strikes are set to go ahead on Dec 13 and 14 and again on Dec 16 and 17.
It comes amid a flurry of industrial action, with nurses set to walk out for two days and Royal Mail workers planning strikes in the busiest period for Christmas deliveries.
Ambulance workers and civil servants including Border Force officials have also backed strike action but are yet to confirm dates.
Weather forecasters at the Met Office are also reportedly preparing to join the mass public sector walkouts. Last night, the rail unions were accused of “holding the country to ransom” by rejecting the offer, which is bigger than the pay deal offered to nurses and other public sector workers.
As well as the salary boost over two years, it guaranteed no compulsory redundancies until April 2024. The RMT did not put the deal to its members. Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, said: “The RMT has been offered an improved new deal by the train operating companies and has rejected it outright. The situation is incredibly disappointing, and unfair to the public, passengers and the rail workforce who want a deal.
“Our railways need to modernise. There’s no place for outdated working practices that rely on voluntary overtime to run a reliable seven-day service.” He said the unions should put the offer to their members and call off industrial action.
Brendan Clarke-smith, the Tory MP for Bassetlaw, said: “People should be able to go about their business and look forward to the Christmas period with their loved ones. It’s not right that they should have their festive plans ruined by the RMT trying to hold the country to ransom.”
Paul Maynard, Tory MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys, and a former rail minister, said: “This is a Christmas catastrophe for rail passengers. Every time the RMT turns its back on the need to modernise the railway, it hammers another nail in the network’s coffin.”
A rail industry source said: “What’s on offer is an 8 per cent pay rise with a lump sum this year. Most people facing the same cost of living pressures would take that.”
The RMT waited until the country was distracted by the England World Cup knockout game to announce it was rejecting the first formal pay offer made by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), in a dispute that began six months ago.
Mick Lynch, the union’s general secretary, said: “We have rejected this offer as it does not meet any of our criteria for securing a settlement on long-term job security, a decent pay rise and protecting working conditions.”
He has demanded a meeting with the RDG today. The strikes across 14 train operators and Network Rail, coupled with an overtime ban over Christmas would result in a month’s worth of disruption, according to the RDG. Rail unions have refused to say what pay offer they would accept but they had previously been seeking a rise in line with inflation, currently at 11 per cent.
Nurses will go on strike on Dec 15 and 20, demanding a 19 per cent pay rise over the course of the next year.
The current offer, set by the independent Pay Review Body, is equivalent to about 4.5 per cent.
It comes after the Government yesterday announced that 2,000 military personnel and volunteers were undergoing training to fill in for strike-hit public services.
The emergency staff will stand in to support a range of services including Border Force officers at airports and ports in the event of strike action.
Soldiers and other Armed Forces personnel could also be deployed to roles including ambulance driving if a planned NHS strike goes ahead.
They could also serve as firefighters if members of the Fire Brigades Union back industrial action. More than 33,000 firefighters and control room staff start voting today on whether to strike over pay.
Meteorologists and supercomputer operators at the Met Office are also readying for industrial action, according to The Times. Prospect, a union representing 30,000 public sector workers including Met Office staff, is preparing to announce “extraordinary” support for strikes.
Broadcasters, the Armed Forces, emergency services and government agencies all rely on Met Office forecasts.
Yesterday, Nadhim Zahawi, the Tory Party chairman, urged nurses and other public sector workers to accept belowinflation pay rises to help “send a clear message” to Vladimir Putin. “We have to come together, this is not a time to be divided,” he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge.
“I hope to send a very clear message to Mr Putin that he cannot use energy as a weapon in this way. And we will remain united, which is why we’ve accepted the pay review bodies on the NHS, on schools and on others.”
His comments were met with a furious reaction from nursing unions.
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the
Royal College of Nursing, said: “Using Russia’s war in Ukraine as a justification for a real-terms pay cut for nurses in the UK is a new low for this Government.”
At the weekend, Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, wrote to the RCN and the GMB unions to reiterate that his door was open for talks. But he made it clear he was only negotiating on terms and conditions as ministers had accepted the recommendations of the independent pay review body.
Efforts to strike a deal on train strikes have been complicated by the fractured nature of the railways in the UK.
The RDG represents 14 train operators hit by walkouts, but negotiations have also been taking place between the RMT and Network Rail, the publicly funded body that oversees the railway infrastructure including track maintenance and signalling.
Network Rail has previously seen its offers of 8 per cent pay rises turned down by the RMT.
However, over the weekend it is understood to have tabled an improved pay deal of 9 per cent, plus no compulsory redundancies until January 2025. The talks will continue today.