Rail union sat on pay offer for a week before ending strikes

‘Bosses are spitting feathers the RMT has got the moral high ground, while members get paid for sitting at home’

THE trade union leading industrial action on the railways sat on a potential deal for a week that would have avoided chaos for millions of commuters yesterday, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.

The RMT union waited until Friday afternoon to call off three days of strike action starting on Saturday, leaving no time to reset train timetables.

As a result, millions of commuters were dismayed to find just one in five train services were running yesterday across some of the UK’S busiest lines. The last-minute cancellation came despite a verbal offer made by Network Rail a week beforehand.

The TSSA and Unite unions chose to call off their industrial action on the following Tuesday in response.

It is understood that had the RMT moved in step with its sister unions, a full rail service would have been operated yesterday. Disruption on Saturday would also have been mitigated.

Mick Lynch, RMT general secretary, however, waited until last Thursday to request that the offer was put in writing. The RMT insisted that it decided to end strikes once it had received written confirmation from Network Rail on Nov 4. A spokesman for the union said: “For the first time, the train operators via [trade body] the RDG committed in their letter on Friday to finally make a full written offer on the issues in dispute following a period of intensive negotiations with the train operating companies. Our NEC then decided at the earliest opportunity that same day to suspend scheduled strike action.” Rail industry sources hit back, with one saying that Network Rail’s position had not changed over the course of the week. “TSSA and Unite didn’t feel the need to wait for a clarification letter, the reason being everything was crystal clear,” they added.

A train operator source said: “Bosses are spitting feathers at the fact that the RMT has got the moral high ground, while their members are getting paid for sitting at home.” Network Rail said: “Finding a resolution to this long-running dispute is all that matters and all parties are fully engaged in that goal.”