01.06.15
Rail strike off as unions consider fresh pay offer
Another national rail strike has been averted, at least temporarily, as RMT has called off its planned industrial action to consider a new offer from Network Rail.
Today marks the fourth day of the current session of negotiations between the two parties held at Acas.
An Acas spokesperson said: "After four days of intensive talks, Acas has helped Network Rail, RMT, TSSA and Unite formulate a set of revised proposals that the trades unions will now take away to consider.
"Recognising this, the RMT has agreed to suspend the industrial action planned for this week and next."
The RMT union was set to hold a 24-hour strike from 5pm on Thursday 4 June, and a 48-hour strike from 5pm on Tuesday 9 June. Union members were also to take action short of a strike by not taking overtime shifts.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “Following extensive Acas talks throughout the weekend RMT has now received a revised offer that enables us to suspend the planned industrial action while we consult in full on the details of the revised package with our Network Rail representatives.”
On Thursday, RMT reps rejected a new pay offer from Network Rail, which had been made to avoid a previously planned strike.
Under the offer, some employees would also have received a 1.4% increase from 1 January 2016, and another 0.7% rise would have been implemented if the unions agree to different ways of working. There was also a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies for two years.
This improved on the original deal, which included a £500 bonus but no pay rise this year. Salaries would then have risen only in line with inflation for three years until 2019.
No details have been released of Network Rail’s new deal.
Unite and the TSSA had announced they were to ballot members on the previous offer from Network Rail before deciding on any further action. It is not yet clear how they will respond to this new offer.
(Picture by: Stefan Rousseau)
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