Off The Rails's blog

Arriva Rail London drivers: vote no!

With RPI standing at 14.2% for October, the Aslef Executive Committee's decision to pull its members employed by Arriva Rail London (London Overground) out of the planned strike on 26 November, and its recommendation that they accept a 6.5% pay offer, conditional on productivity concessions, is...

A dispatch from the Elizabeth Line

The late cancellation of the national rail strikes did not spare the Elizabeth line on the grand opening of through running. And it didn’t take long for the house of cards to fall again after a slight breath of wind.

The new timetable means a broken-down train at Shenfield can cause delays as far...

ScotRail deal: vote no!

Off the Rails encourages readers at ScotRail to vote no in the current referendum on the company's new offer.

The company says its pay offer represents an increase of between 7.5 and 8.5 per cent, depending on grade. This is made up of a 5 percent increase plus a £750 lump sum. Although their...

Aslef to strike on 26 November

Aslef has named a further strike on 26 November at 13 TOCs (see list below).

It's good the union is calling further action to keep the dispute going. Members of other rail unions have to put differences of union affiliation and grade/job role aside, and refuse to cross Aslef's picket lines. When...

Restart the rail strikes

With less than eight hours to go until they were due to begin, RMT announced that the strikes planned for 5, 7, and 9 November on Network Rail (5, 7, 9) and TOCs (5 and 7) were cancelled. TSSA had cancelled their strikes on Network Rail, planned for the same days, a few days earlier.

RMT statements...

RMT launches expanded cleaners' ballot

RMT has launched a strike ballot involving 1,700 cleaners across multiple contracts, employed by contractors such as Mitie, Churchill, and others.

The union first announced the plan for the ballot several months ago, but some preparatory work was necessary before the ballot could be launched. The...

Debate: RMT and the politics of "Poppy Day"

This article was written by an RMT rep, in a spirit of debate and discussion. We welcome further contributions, including ones arguing opposed and alternative views.


Like its previous decision to suspend strikes following the death of the Queen, the RMT's decision to suspend strikes for the Royal...

Rail for London Infrastructure workers: vote yes to strikes!

Workers employed by Rail for London Infrastructure (RfLI), which provides engineering support for the new Elizabeth line, are balloting for strikes after bosses offered a below-inflation pay “increase” of 4 percent, backdated to April 2022, and 4.4 percent from April 2023.

RMT has rightly called...

As train companies strike again, keep the fight together!

RMT members at 14 mainline TOCs will strike again on 3 and 5 November, alongside Network Rail workers (both days) and London Underground and London Overground workers (3 November).

It's very good that further strikes have been called, laying to rest fears that action would be paused during the...

TSSA members join November strikes

TSSA members on Network will strike over pay, jobs, and conditions on 3, 5, and 7 November, alongside RMT members striking on the same days. TSSA members at various TOCs (see below) will also take action on 3, 5, 7 and 8 November, with action-short-of-strikes planned throughout November.

It's good...

TSSA members at GTR fall foul of Tory anti-union laws

TSSA's ballot for industrial action over pay at Govia Thameslink Railway has been scuppered by Tory anti-union laws.

Although they achieved a turnout above 50 percent, and although 67 percent of those voting voted yes to strike, they missed the "double threshold" applied to certain "essential...

Avanti Train Managers and EMR engineers keep up their fights

Within our national battles with Network Rail and mainline TOCs over pay, jobs, and conditions, groups of workers within companies are rightly maintaining local battles over specific issues.

Train Managers on Avanti struck on 22 October, with a further strike planned on 6 November, in a dispute...

Strikes on Network Rail on 3, 5, and 7 November

RMT has called further strikes on Network Rail on 3, 5, 7 November. This is very positive news: there were suggestions from some quarters that no more action should be taken during the re-ballot period, so it’s good to see more action called.

Even more encouraging is the fact that these strikes...

Step up the strikes

With RMT's re-ballot getting underway next week, and an online briefing from GS Mick Lynch planned for 20 October, there's plenty of discussion in workplaces and union meetings about the progress of the national dispute and the possible next steps.

With union officials stressing the importance of...

RMT re-ballot: vote early!

RMT has announced that ballots will soon be coming through the letterboxes of members at Network Rail and the TOCs involved in the national dispute, re-balloting us on whether we want to continue taking industrial action.

All out on 8 October - then prepare to re-ballot, and escalate!

RMT members at Network Rail and various TOCs are preparing for another strike day on 8 October. We've struck across multiple days since the campaign of strikes began in June, and there is no sign of the dispute fraying.

Picket lines remain lively and well supported, and we've been buoyed up by...

New edition of our bulletin now online

The new edition of the printed version of our bulletin is now online.

Click here to download the PDF. (If the link doesn't work, you can also access the PDF here.)

Please download and print for distribution at work and on picket lines!

Is a "revenue strike" illegal? And if not, should we try one?

Whenever transport workers go on strike, someone - whether in good faith or bad - will raise the issue of a "revenue strike" or "fare strike", whereby we all go to work, but open all ticket barriers and refuse to check tickets, thereby allowing passengers to travel for free.

The thinking is, we hit...

Avanti West Coast cleaners back on strike

Atalian Servest cleaners on the Avanti West Coast contract resumed strikes today (23 September), as they continue a long-running battle for living wages and better conditions.

More strikes named: we need to escalate

Aslef has called strikes for 1 and 5 October. RMT has also called a strike for 1 October, with TSSA expected to strike on that date too. 1 October will see RMT and Aslef strike together for the first time in the current national disputes.

That's a big step forward. Locally union reps must pursue...

Where next in the national rail dispute?

This is a discussion article from a supporter of Off the Rails. We welcome responses and debate.


RMTs NEC will meet on 1 September to discuss the next steps in the national dispute over pay and conditions with Network Rail and the Train Operating Companies (TOCs). The Executives of the other...

There are only two sides in a strike

In response to Mick Lynch’s recent New Statesman interview, some on social media have argued that his opinions on Ukraine and China some invalidate or undermine the RMT’s cause in our current disputes.

We’ve commented on Mick’s remarks on those specific issues here. It’s also important to remember...

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