RMT Members Vote to Renew Strike Mandate for 6 More Months

A commuter walks past a board informing passengers of this week's rail strike at Saint Pancras train station in London on February 3, 2023. - Railway commuters across England faced travel misery as train drivers staged their second stoppage over pay this week, the latest in a wave of UK industrial action. Millions of people were forced to make alternative travel plans or work from home as the majority of train companies on the country's fragmented network said they were running no services. (Photo by ISABEL INFANTES / AFP) (Photo by ISABEL INFANTES/AFP via Getty Images)

Britain’s biggest rail workers’ union said its members have voted to renew its mandate to continue staging strikes for the next six months.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), whose executive committee has rejected the latest offer aimed at resolving a long-running pay dispute, said on Thursday there was overwhelming backing for further strike action across 14 train operating companies.

Unions have to re-ballot their members every six months to legally continue with industrial action.

According to the RMT, in the new ballot at 14 train operating companies, over 90 percent of votes cast backed continuing with strike action, on an average turnout of nearly 70 percent.

RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch speaks at a rally outside Kings Cross station, London, on June 25, 2022. (Dominic Lipinski/PA Media)

RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said: “It is clear from these results that members are not prepared to accept a pay offer based on mass job cuts and major attacks on their terms and conditions.

“This sends a clear message to the employers that the huge anger amongst rail workers is very real and they need to recognise that fact, face reality, and make improved proposals.

“They need to get around the table with RMT and negotiate in good faith for a better deal for rail workers.”

The RMT has already announced a strike against train companies on May 13, the day of the Eurovision Song Contest final in Liverpool.

‘Disappointing’

The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents train operators and Network Rail, said the outcome of the ballot is “disappointing” but also “unsurprising.”

An RDG spokesperson said: “The vote that really matters is for the deal on the table developed in conjunction with RMT negotiators but then subsequently rejected out of hand in unflattering terms by their executive committee, without giving their membership a single chance to have their say.

“The RMT membership would be forgiven for wondering why they are only ever offered a vote to extend this dispute and a never vote to end it.

“We can only assume that the executive committee is fixed on continuing this dispute for its own reasons, despite the damage it is causing to an industry still being subsidised up to £175 million a month extra post-COVID, to our passengers’ lives and to Britain’s reputation for hosting high-profile events like Eurovision.

“Instead of continuing to hold the country to ransom, we call on the RMT executive to quickly think again and put the deal—which offers job security guarantees and a pay rise of up to 13 percent—out to a democratic vote so that members can finally have their say.”

Responding to the vote, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “I’m disappointed by the RMT’s decision to continue taking industrial action. Train companies put forward a fair and reasonable pay offer, which the RMT’s executive have refused to consult their members on, despite members working for Network Rail voting overwhelmingly to accept it earlier this year.

“The Rail Delivery Group’s best and final offer guarantees employees a fair and reasonable pay rise, while delivering the reforms needed to address the long-term challenges facing the industry.”

Event Disruption

The planned RMT strike on May 13 will affect 14 train operators across the country on the same day that Liverpool hosts the Eurovision final.

TransPennine Express said on Friday that it “will do all [it] can to help make the event a success” but the strike will have a “significant impact” on services.

The company also confirmed it will not run any services the day before the final owing to a strike by train drivers’ union Aslef.

Passengers planning to travel to and from Liverpool for the show are being urged to check their travel plans in advance.

The RMT insisted that the strike is not deliberately scheduled to prevent people from getting to the event.

On Monday, before the results of the re-ballot were announced, Lynch said the date was the only one that union members could walk out on owing to rules governing when unions can call strikes.

He said: “The reason we named that date is because it’s the last day of our mandate. Our mandate runs out and we have to get another one, and we have to give two weeks’ notice, so when the talks broke down it was the only day.

“We don’t pick out events in our union. We don’t say ‘we’ll disrupt that event, or we’ll disrupt that event.’ We want to go on strike on Saturdays because it’s the busiest day on the railway now following the changes from COVID and our members want to strike on Saturdays.

“That is the only available date that is available to us within that mandate, that’s why we picked it.

“I have no interest in upsetting people where we don’t have to but strikes have to be effective, they have to have some meaning. You have to influence the debate by taking effective action and that’s what we’re doing.”

PA Media contributed to this report.