Rail walkout is first challenge

MILLIONS of passengers could face travel chaos after militant rail workers yesterday voted in favour of strike action over pay.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union backed walkouts by four to one, rejecting Network Rail’s offer of a £500 pay rise then three years of increases in line with inflation.

The union described the result as an ‘overwhelming mandate for action’.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association union is also balloting members over strike action, with the result due this week.

The RMT vote presents the Tory government with its first major challenge on industrial relations – just hours after new Business Secretary, Sajid Javid, promised a crackdown on strikes. A national walkout by RMT members could cripple train services. Unions are required to give just seven days’ notice of strikes.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said the vote ‘shows the anger of safety-critical staff across the rail network at attacks on their standards of living and their job security’.

But Network Rail’s chief executive, Mark Carne, said: ‘It cannot be right that the unions can hold the country to ransom in this way. The railways are a vital public service and industrial action would have a massive impact on millions of passengers as well as freight distribution across Britain.’

He added: ‘Our employees have received pay rises eight times higher than other public sector workers over the last four years and have now been offered a deal for the next four years that is unmatched elsewhere.’

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: ‘I condemn any industrial action that disrupts the travelling public. I want to see Network Rail and the unions back round the negotiating table, hammering out a deal.’