Rail unions

May 12 and 13 will see workers employed by Train Operating Companies (TOCs) on the mainline railway return to industrial action after a lengthy pause. RMT members, who strike on the 13th, returned a huge majority for action, on a 70% turnout, in their latest re-ballot. Drivers’ union Aslef has also rejected the latest offer put to it by the Rail Delivery Group, the umbrella body representing the TOCs. Aslef drivers strike on the 12th. RMT’s ballot result shows there is still a strong will to fight amongst members; the union leadership must now act on those results by calling the sustained...

The return to strikes by nurses’ union RCN, from 8pm on 30 April until 2 May, is an important opportunity to revive and accelerate the pay fight in the NHS. Unite members in various NHS trusts, including several ambulance trusts, will also strike on 1 and 2 May. If GMB members in the NHS also reject the pay offer in their ballot closing 28 April (possible, despite the GMB leadership recommending acceptance), their members in ambulance trusts and elsewhere in the NHS could also strike, officially from mid-May, but sooner if GMB members refuse to cross other unions’ pickets. Although junior...

London Underground bosses have told unions that they will begin negotiations over our next pay settlement on 11 May. If previous years’ talks are anything to go by, they’ll likely drag on for months. Meanwhile, our pay falls further and further behind inflation. Remember: we were due a new settlement on 1 April. Why should we accept this? Why should we allow management to set the pace? Instead, we should set our own timetable. If management haven’t made us a satisfactory offer by an agreed date, we should immediately move to a ballot for industrial action. Tubeworker suggests launching the...

The current deal on the table in RMT members’ fight with the Train Operating Companies (TOCs) is called the Dispute Resolution Process (DRP). It is a two-year deal, covering 2022-3 (“Year One”, last year), and 2023-4 (“Year Two”, starting now). The string attached to the 5% pay settlement for Year One is that we have to enter the Year Two process for restructuring job roles and terms and conditions. The employers want to consolidate current job roles into a single “multi-skilled” grade on stations. They also want to overhaul policies on attendance, sick pay, rostering parameters and more...

On the Elizabeth Line in London, barely a day goes by without delays. With the new timetable due in a few weeks, promising up to 24 trains per hour in the central section, it remains to be seen if the system can cope. Station staff will continue to take the flak and mitigate as much as possible. Pay talks for 2023/24 on the Elizabeth Line begin in earnest in the first week of April, despite the previous settlement expiring on 1 April. Management has offered 5% pay rise, 3% now plus 2% in October, but with terms-and-conditions changes, such as seven-day working. The union reps have rebuffed...

Possibly in response to disquiet on the RMT members’ Facebook group about the lack of union comms on the current talks with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), and a feeling there that we’ve yet again been suckered into calling off strike action for no reason, on Thursday 6 April the union sent an email to members and issued a press release. The email laments the fact that the RDG’s Dispute Resolution Process document has failed to materialise, making it impossible for the union to scrutinise as part of the offer. It also laments the fact that RDG has to “seek authorisation on every offer it...

Despite the votes to accept poor offers on Network Rail and by RCN in NHS Scotland, and despite the suspension of strikes on Train Operating Companies, there is still potential to remobilise and turn the tide. But workers need independent rank-and-file organisation to develop alternative strategies in disputes. RCN (Royal College of Nursing) in Scotland has announced that among its members in Scotland. 53.3% voted to accept the offer, 46.6% voted to reject, on a turnout of just over 50%. The offer is a 6.5% rise in 2023-4 (or for some, fractionally more) for all staff up to and inclusive of...

Every time a driver is unavailable to pick up a train, for whatever reason, there are a number of knock-on effects. How these are managed can have a big impact on your mood and what kind of service passengers get. You might be on a train for up to four hours and fifteen minutes. As soon as someone isn’t available that might mean a train cancellation, and that means the current driver needs to get the train to a depot, siding, or an alternative place it can be picked up and “reformed” into a train that was previously cancelled. That headache largely sits with the Line Controllers. On weekends...

March 15 will see teachers, civil servants, Tube workers, and junior doctors, and possibly others, strike together. Some of those workers, including teachers and junior doctors, will also strike on 16 March, when they will be joined by workers on the national rail. 15 March is Budget day. It is an opportunity to press not only the demands of individual disputes, but a broader package of pro-working-class policies: rebuild the NHS, scrap anti-strike laws, increase benefits... Lively, well-supported picket lines and a strong presence in central London, with local strike rallies elsewhere, could...