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...
Two groups of RMT members working for TOCs met last week to discuss how we could improve the running of our national dispute. For some of us, the necessity for a change in direction was clear months ago but we were galvanised into action by the disappointing outcome of the Network Rail dispute.
Our...
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...
Pay talks for 2023/24 on the Elizabeth Line in London 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...
Cleaners on six mainline rail contracts (see below for details) will strike again from 14-15 April, as they continue their fight for a £15/hour minimum wage, improved sick pay, staff travel passes, and improved pensions.
RMT cleaners have been fighting the battle for some time, with multiple rounds...
RMT ballot papers for renewing the industrial action mandate in TOCs will go out on Thursday 6 April, with the ballot closing on 4 May.
Off The Rails encourages all readers in RMT in TOCs to vote yes. But, contrary to the suggestion in recent communication from the union, it’s not merely renewing...
📢 WORKING-CLASS REVOLT IN FRANCE, with French socialist and trade union activists from L’Etincelle
Tubeworker & Off The Rails public (Zoom) meeting
Thursday 20 April, 15:00-17:00
Log in via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89802934171?pwd=NEh5MzJzTWp0eWptSE9WaDA1NlhOdz09
Workers in France are...
While some (mostly not actual Network Rail workers) are lauding the dispute outcome as a win, let's just pause and look at the actual events that led up to this 'victory'.
Back in the heady days of May, we delivered a resounding majority in favour of strike action. The activists had worked hard...
The RMT NEC has called off strikes planned on TOCs for 30 March and 1 April, after the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents the TOCs in the dispute, made a new offer.
That offer is based on a 5% pay increase (or a £1,750 flat-rate increase, whichever is higher for a given grade) for 2022...
Aslef recently sent an “update on talks” to members.
Good stuff, you might think… the union is keeping members informed on the progress of negotiations so we can make informed decisions about the next steps in our dispute. We’ll learn exactly what arguments the bosses are putting forward, and how...
Network Rail workers in RMT have voted by a large margin to accept the company's latest offer on pay and conditions. 15,756 workers, out of a possible 18,302, voted in the referendum, with 12,047 voting to accept, and 3,709 voting to reject – a 76% majority.
Off The Rails advocated rejection in...
Train Operating Company workers are back on the picket line today, after a pause in action of a few months. Why are we still striking? It's simple - the Rail Delivery Group, representing employers, hasn't offered an above-inflation pay increase, and still wants to cut jobs and close ticket offices...
Thursday 23 March, 15:00-17:00
Hosted by Off The Rails and Tubeworker
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89802934171?pwd=NEh5MzJzTWp0eWptSE9WaDA1NlhOdz09
Independent inquiries into sexist harassment and bullying in two trade unions, GMB and TSSA, revealed huge structural and cultural problems...
A new leaflet from Off The Rails, arguing for a no vote in the ongoing RMT referendum on the new offer from Network Rail.
Click here to download the PDF, or click on the attachment below.
RMT has called off planned strikes by Network Rail workers, due for 16-17 March, after Network Rail made a new offer. The headline pay element involves a £1,750 consolidated increase, or a 5% increase, covering 1 January 2022 to 30 September 2022 (whichever is higher for a given role), and a further...
TSSA members on the fourteen TOCs involved in the national dispute have accepted their leadership's recommendation and voted to accept real-terms pay cuts and attacks on working conditions. The deal - 5% or £1750 this year, 4% next year - is way below inflation.
RMT has called new strikes in the national disputes with the Train Operating Companies (TOCs) and Network Rail.
TOCs workers will strike on 16 March, 18 March, 30 March, and 1 April. Network Rail workers will strike from 02:00 on 16 March to 01:59 on 17 March. Network Rail workers will the...
Railway engineering workers at Balfour Beatty will strike in March and April, after RMT members turned down a 5.5% pay offer, representing a significant pay cut relative to inflation.
Strikes will take place as follows:
22.00 on Friday 3 March and 09.59 on Sunday 5 March
22.00 on Friday 10 March...
15 March will see another day of coordinated strikes, with teachers in the National Education Union, civil servants in the Public and Commercial Services union, and others striking together. There was, and is, potential to spread that coordination to make 15 March even bigger than the 1 February...
ASLEF members on Northern Trains and Transpennine Express have returned massive votes for industrial action.
On Northern, drivers voted for strike action by 1518 (96.14%) to 61 (3.86%), and for action short of a strike by 1548 (98.41%) to 25 (1.59%). The turnout was a whopping 1581 (84.14%).
On...
RMT’s National Executive Committee has rightly rejected the latest offers from the Rail Delivery Group, representing the Train Operating Companies, and Network Rail.
Both offers included below-inflation pay increases – i.e., pay cuts – which were conditional on acceptance of a raft of job cuts...
An amusing story in the Telegraph alleges that “RMT is seeking to bring down capitalism with rail strikes”. It cites as evidence the fact that the Newcastle Rail & Catering branch quoted, in a communication to members, the clause from the union’s rulebook which commits RMT to working for “the...
Read the Kennedy report online here
More:
In the summer of 2022 Helena Kennedy KC, began an enquiry into sexual harassment in the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA). She wrote that her...
Thursday 16 February, 15:00-17:00
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89802934171?pwd=NEh5MzJzTWp0eWptSE9WaDA1NlhOdz09
Facebook event here.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed following a massive earthquake on the Turkey-Syria border. In the wake of this tragedy and unfolding...
Recent comments by Aslef and RMT leaders suggest they think that the national disputes are going to be long, drawn out affairs... three years, in Aslef GS Mick Whelan’s case! And the supposed corollary of this for them is that we should continue to pursue slow and steady industrial action. Perhaps...
Update
Since we published this article, which advocates merger talks between RMT and TSSA, it's emerged that RMT did in fact approach TSSA, on 13 January, to seek discussions on "inter-union relations". It seems the approach was sat on by top officials at TSSA HQ, who are set on their merger with...
TSSA is painting a slight tweak in the latest offer from Network Rail as a “win” for the union.
The tweak involves allowing workers who are registered carers to take “Carer’s Days” to fulfil their caring responsibilities, rather than using annual leave or unpaid time off.
We have no wish to...
RMT has published sent the latest offer from Network Rail, with annotated responses from reps on the National Operations Council and National Maintenance Council.
This is a good move on two counts; firstly, it’s transparent and allows all members to scrutinise the full offer in detail. Secondly...
The 1 February strike, involving at least 500,000 workers across sectors, saw some important instances of solidarity in the rail industry that we need to generalise.
In Sheffield, an Aslef speaker at the local strike rally reported than an RMT activist had refused to cross the drivers’ picket line...
150 rail workers attended a meeting in Birmingham on Monday 23 January, to hear a national dispute report back from the RMT leadership on the recent deal offered to Train Operating Companies (TOCs) and the earlier one offered to, and rejected by, Network Rail (NR) workers.
The unanimous feeling of...
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