Around 20,000 RMT members working on trains and in stations across England held another strike on Friday 2 June. The dispute has been running for nearly a year.
The union has demanded that the government facilitate an improved pay offer that “will protect staffing and services and deliver a fairer deal for rail workers”.
The devolved Scottish and Welsh governments have both settled with unions for the railways they control.
Paltry
Union members at Wolverhampton expressed anger that they were being offered paltry pay increases for giving up key terms and conditions while private train companies have made £400 million in profits and rail bosses received bumper pay rises of between 15 and 275 per cent!
RMT estimates that the dispute has cost taxpayers and the economy around £1.25 billion, and the government’s strategy of taking on all the trains unions a lot more.
Failure
Mick Lynch, RMT general secretary, wrote to all MPs on 2 June to criticise the UK government’s actions over the dispute and its failure to deliver a plan to improve public transport. He pointed out that the reforms the government is trying to impose are not those that passengers want.
• Aslef members are also continuing action in support of their pay claim. Drivers working for 15 train operating companies were on strike on 3 June, the last of three planned days of action.