Rail unions

Rail, Maritime and Tranposrt Union (RMT); Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF); Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA)

Vote no to TOCs offer!

The Rail Delivery Group has made a new offer to the RMT rail union to settle the long-running dispute over pay and conditions at mainline Train Operating Companies (TOCs). The offer is a 5% pay increase for 2022-3, or a flat-rate £1,750 increase, whichever is higher for a given grade. Formally, the offer is “strings free”, in that it does not require RMT to accept job cuts or changes to terms and conditions. It also includes a no-compulsory-redundancies guarantee running through to the end of 2024. The offer also puts the withdrawal of the ticket office closure programme in writing, and ends...

TOCs dispute: vote no to a pay cut!

The Rail Delivery Group has made a new offer to the RMT, to settle our long-running dispute over pay and conditions at mainline Train Operating Companies (TOCs). The offer is for a 5% pay increase for 2022-3, or a flat-rate £1,750 increase, whichever is higher for a given grade.

Formally, the offer...

Just transition and curbs on aviation

Aviation sector bosses globally are pursuing rapid expansion despite the climate crisis, with the International Civil Aviation Organization predicting doubling of air traffic by the late 2030s. Even in the UK, with its already over-expanded aviation industry, the Government’s climate-indifferent “Jet Zero Strategy” endorses 70% expansion by 2050. Expansion plans have already been launched or greenlighted at airports around the country — though with strong opposition from community and climate campaigners. A key way the industry sells its antisocial agenda is job creation. Even before the wider...

Tories back down on ticket offices

On 31 October the government announced it would scrap plans to close every rail ticket office in England. This is a significant victory for the rail unions, passengers, and disabled and accessibility campaigners. Despite the government and the Train Operating Companies (TOCs) arguing that modernisation and reform of the railway meant complete closure, a popular and large-scale campaign with over 750,000 responding to the consultation has defeated the plan. Transport Focus and London Travelwatch reported they were against the plan, and the government said that the alternative plans drawn up by...

Strikes called for Tory conference

Aslef has called further strikes on Train Operating Companies (TOCs) on 30 September, and 4 October with a further overtime ban on 29 September and again on 2-6 October. As yet RMT has not announced any new strikes. While hitting the first and last days of the Tory party conference will generate some headlines, with no real movement from the government or the RDG this cannot be a strategy to win. The rail unions, off the back of a successful public facing campaign about ticket office closures, should use that momentum to escalate the dispute. Off the Rails has previously said, “that sporadic...

Yes, we should negotiate in the open!

RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch told an LBC journalist that he would be prepared to conduct live, televised negotiations with the government, saying, “Let’s get it in the open [...] The RMT and the trade unions always turn up for any debate. I’ve debated with government ministers in the past on the media. I’m very happy to do those negotiations in public if that’s what they want to do.” Negotiating with the government and the employers in an open, public way would put our bosses and their political masters on the spot in the full view of the workers and the service users. We also share Lynch...

RMT commits to demo on anti-strike laws

The AGM of the RMT rail union (Bournemouth, 23-27 June) unanimously adopted a resolution from the union’s Bakerloo line branch committing RMT to call a national demonstration

Tube: time for the unions to move

An RMT union reps’ meeting on 30 May produced a strong consensus for further strikes in the long-running London Underground dispute over jobs, pensions, and conditions. Early July was mentioned as a timeframe, but we’re past the point where the union would have had to notify such dates. Transport for London (TfL) is committed to pension changes, London Underground (LUL) is rolling out cuts including “Trains Modernisation”... where’s the union response? Meanwhile, LUL’s latest pay offer to our unions is for a 4% increase, covering 2023-2024. The amount is well below inflation. The RPI rate of...

Rail: escalating out of deadlock?

Rail and Tube workers started the current strike wave, back in March 2022 (Tube) and June 2022 (rail Train Operating Companies (TOCs) and Network Rail). A year later, the Tube and TOCs disputes are deadlocked, and Network Rail has settled on a bad deal, but workers remain determined to defy government-directed attempts to restructure jobs and worsen conditions. Representatives in the RMT union (the main union in the industry and the only all-grades union) from the mainline Train Operating Companies (TOCs) in dispute over pay and conditions met on 14 June, with a strong consensus for resuming...

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