Train strikes: RMT walkouts to go ahead after 64% vote to reject Network Rail pay deal

Rail strikes are set to go ahead this week after a pay deal was “overwhelmingly” rejected by members, the RMT union has said.

Industrial action on Tuesday and Wednesday (December 13-14), from 6pm on December 24 to December 27, and in January 2023 remains on, the union confirmed.

Strikes will be carried out by workers at Network Rail as well as the 14 train operating firms who hold a mandate from the Department for Transport (DfT) to run rail services in the UK.

The services are: Chiltern Railways; Cross Country Trains; Greater Anglia; LNER; East Midlands Railway; c2c; Great Western Railway; Northern Trains; South Eastern; South Western Railway; Transpennine Express; Avanti West Coast; West Midlands Trains and GTR.

An RMT spokesperson said Network Rail workers “emphatically” refused the latest pay offer from bosses, which included a 5% and 4% rise over two years, with thousands of job losses.

Turnout on the vote was 83%, the union said, and 63.6% voted to reject the offer.

They said: “RMT members from Network Rail have voted overwhelmingly to reject the latest offer from company bosses.”

A 50% cut in scheduled maintenance tasks and a 30% increase in unsocial hours was also part of the proposed package.

RMT chief Mick Lynch said: "This is a huge rejection of Network Rail’s substandard offer and shows that our members are determined to take further strike action in pursuit of a negotiated settlement.

"The government is refusing to lift a finger to prevent these strikes and it is clear they want to make effective strike action illegal in Britain.”

He added: "We will resist that and our members, along with the entire trade union movement will continue their campaign for a square deal for workers, decent pay increases and good working conditions."

Network Rail boss Andrew Haines said: “This news is especially frustrating, given that we learnt today that colleagues represented by Unite union have accepted the very same offer put to RMT members.

“The RMT are the outliers here, they need to stop playing politics and work with us to bring this dispute to an end.

“There is clearly a significant number of Network Rail colleagues who want this deal, but are caught up by these needless strikes and collective bargaining.”

He added: “Our offer, which is worth over 9%, with a guarantee of compulsory redundancies and no changes to anyone’s terms and conditions remains on the table.

“Our railway still faces a real financial crisis and because of that, we will continue with the consultation around the implementation of the maintenance reforms.

“Sadly, with strikes now set to go ahead, passengers can expect to see widespread rail disruption throughout the week.

“We will continue to work closely with operators to run as many services as possible but we continue to ask passengers to only travel if absolutely necessary.”

Network Rail workers will strike from Christmas Eve until 6am on December 27, while other scheduled strike action involves Network Rail and the 14 train operating companies.