A new move has been made to reach a settlement of the long-running national rail dispute.
The RMT union, whose members at 14 train operators, were on strike yesterday, and have scheduled a similar strike for Saturday 2 September, has written to the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) outlining the conditions which need to be met during negotiations. These include a commitment to pay proposals and a guarantee that there will be no compulsory redundancies.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch wrote, in a letter to the RDG, that he believed that both the union and the RDG recognise that there is a need to find a way to settle the dispute through negotiation.
But, a commitment to seeking a settlement comes with conditions. Lynch says that these should include a one-year pay proposal covering 2022-23, with an underpin, backdated to relevant anniversary dates in 2022, with a commitment to commence pay negotiations on the 2023-24 settlement on 1 December.
He also called for discussions between the RMT and individual companies, which would include formal consultations and negotiations, to be deferred pending the outcome of the consultation over ticket office closures. Those discussions should not begin until 1 December 2023, in any case.
He further called for each train operating company (TOC) to provide the RMT their full agenda and any details of ‘workforce reform' proposals of any grades being planned within the companies. The deadline for those details is also set as 1 December. A commitment to any existing collective bargaining structures and processes should be adhered to, which would include full negotiation and consultation relevant to the matters being considered and, if required, the use of Avoidance of Dispute processes.
Mick Lynch said: “In using the above staged programme, I believe that we can bring clarity to everyone in the industry that they will receive a pay increment for the previous year 2022-23, with a guarantee of employment being forward and that all of the change agenda that the companies wish to propose will be known in full and then addressed appropriately through the respective machineries in each of the companies.
“I am aware of your initial view of the suggested programme but I do request that full consideration is given by the RDG and DfT to this suggested means and that you respond to this initiative next week”.
Lynch knows that his safety argument re guards is flawed (manslaughter of Georgia Varley by her guard), and now ticket offices are under threat. These were never good and I used rail appointed travel agents in preference. OTOH this will push the buck (and penalties) for incorrect tickets onto the passenger, so people don’t want this.
Lynch’s demand for no compulsory redundancies is sane, and probably something the TOCs could manage if they wanted to.
The strike i is weakening with people finding alternatives to travel and including working from home.. Eventually the strikes will see a significant reduction of passengers and therefore reduced services as a result.. Leading to less employees required.. Shooting themselves in the foot and not considering providing a decent service to paying customer’s. Not once did Lynch refer to providing and committing to improve the rail service. It shows where his focus is and it’s not towards customers that pay extortionate fares
Mr aLynch added that everyone who took part in the strikes should be presented with solid gold tea mugs.