Britain’s rail industry has stepped up efforts to end a seven-month strike, with infrastructure operator Network Rail making “revised” offers on pay and working practices to the RMT union.
Network Rail hopes changes to the proposed modernization of working practices, including improvements to annual leave allowances, will help deal with the RMT over the line. The changes were offered alongside a 9 percent pay increase for rail workers over two years, which was rejected in a vote by union members in December.
Details of Network Rail’s revised offer were revealed as train drivers from the Aslef union on Wednesday joined teachers and civil servants in the UK’s biggest day of strike action since 2011.
Workers in the public and private sectors are demanding higher wages amid a cost of living crisis.
About 150,000 teachers represented by the NEU union are due to walk out in England and Wales, affecting more than eight in 10 schools. About 12,500 train drivers are on strike, with only a third of rail services running.
More than 100,000 civil servants who are members of the PCS union are taking part in industrial action, affecting Whitehall departments, other government agencies and border posts, where military personnel have been deployed to check passports.
Tim Shoveller, managing director of Network Rail, wrote in a letter to the RMT about the infrastructure operator’s latest offer on pay and working practices: “We have listened, reflected and believe this supports the RMT’s ambitions for improvement.”
RMT leadership is separately considering a proposed 9 per cent pay rise over two years and a review of working practices by the train operating company.
Union leaders must put the employer’s offer to the members to vote whether to accept the proposed offer and end the protracted industrial action.
The RMT said in response to Network Rail’s latest offer: “No decision has been made on the proposals or the elements within them. We will now consult with members through branch and regional meetings.