Railway workers who are members of the RMT union have voted to accept a provisional pay offer from the train companies.
The strikes over pay and conditions have been ongoing for 18 months, but earlier this month, the RMT management said that they had an agreement with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents the train companies, for a “mutually agreed way forward, including a backdated 2022 pay rise for staff and job security guarantees.”
This provisional offer had to be put to RMT members, who have voted pretty strongly in favour of the deal – averaging across the industry at just under 90% of those voting, choosing to accept the offer.
General Secretary Mick Lynch said: “Our members have spoken in huge numbers to accept this offer and I want to congratulate them on their steadfastness in this long industrial campaign.
“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.
“This campaign shows that sustained strike action and unity gets results and our members should be proud of the role they have played in securing this deal.”
RMT vote results
| Company | Members Eligible to Vote |
Turnout | Voting YES | Voting NO | Percentage in favour |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avanti West Coast | 1,856 | 81% | 1,212 | 287 | 80.85% |
| C2C | 86 | 69% | 55 | 4 | 93.22% |
| Chiltern Railway | 259 | 72% | 164 | 22 | 88.17% |
| Cross Country | 814 | 85% | 606 | 86 | 87.57% |
| East Midlands Railway | 747 | 82% | 526 | 86 | 85.95% |
| GTR | 1,975 | 69% | 1,254 | 111 | 91.87% |
| Great Western Railway | 2,438 | 80% | 1,836 | 113 | 94.20% |
| Greater Anglia | 936 | 77% | 687 | 33 | 95.42% |
| LNER | 1,767 | 79% | 1,216 | 183 | 86.92% |
| Northern Trains | 3,024 | 83% | 2,256 | 266 | 89.45% |
| South Eastern Trains | 1,401 | 80% | 1,024 | 93 | 91.67% |
| South Western Railway | 1,983 | 74% | 1,350 | 107 | 92.66% |
| Island Line (SWR) | 33 | 79% | 24 | 2 | 92.31% |
| Transpennine Express | 525 | 82% | 347 | 81 | 81.07% |
| West Midlands Trains | 1,227 | 81% | 897 | 96 | 90.33% |
A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson said: “This welcome vote from RMT members will unlock a pay rise for our people, and means that fair agreements have now been reached with three out of the four unions involved in the recent industrial dispute.
“Unfortunately, the ASLEF leadership’s decision to call further industrial action means passengers still face disruption between 1-9 December, despite an offer remaining on the table which would see basic driver salaries increase from £60k to £65k for a four-day week.
“We want to reach a fair agreement which will get more trains running on time and put the railway on a sustainable footing, at a time when taxpayers are contributing an extra £54m a week to keep services running post covid. Instead of staging more damaging industrial action, we call on ASLEF to work with us to resolve this dispute for the long-term good of everyone who works in rail and the millions of businesses and passengers who rely on it every day.”
However, the offer is not an end to the strikes but just a pause in the strikes over the Christmas period and into Spring next year, allowing more discussions to take place. The discussions that could then take place would be aimed at addressing the companies’ proposals on the changing needs and expectations of passengers as well as unlocking further increases for staff.
The deal also won’t stop strikes by the train drivers union, Aslef, which is in a different dispute with the train companies, and unless there’s a last minute deal, the forthcoming week of strikes is expected to go ahead.
The RMT is still in dispute on the London Underground, having extended its strike mandate for another six months.
We’ve got the pay rise 👍🏼 now Let’s give it a rest and do it all again next year. To hell with the passengers.
I wonder how much money their members have lost by coming out on strike.
Probably more than they pay increase