22.05.15
A deserved pay rise?
Yesterday the rail unions cancelled their planned strike over pay due to an improved offer from Network Rail, proving that in the realm of public sector workers the rich get richer.
No-one is disputing that rail workers – engineers, drivers, signallers and all the rest – do vital work and deserve to be well paid for it, but here’s the thing – they already are.
Network Rail workers have received pay rises eight times higher than other public sector workers over the last four years – and this during a time of national austerity when all across the rest of the public sector wages are being frozen.
This is down to the power of the rail unions due to the-ever increasing popularity of rail travel – the hysteria caused by even the threat of a strike shutting down the network is enough to make the government and Network Rail buckle.
Even the NHS unions don’t have such power; they’re inhibited by having to provide a basic level of care even when taking industrial action.
So while workers in the NHS have had their pay frozen for the last five years before fighting to get a 1% increase this year – which had to be taken from senior managers rather than more money coming in – rail workers have received consistent raises.
And now they’ve earned another.