RMT Reject Unacceptable Conditions

The Tory attacks on the living standards of the working class have driven may workers into industrial disputes with their employers. Waves of strikes are now taking place across the country. The RMT is in the vanguard and as a result the union and its General Secretary, Mick Lynch, have been the subject of a vicious campaign of fake news and vitriol in the mainstream media. It is vital that the trade union position gets the widest exposure. A communication from Mick Lynch to RMT members, setting out the employers’ offer, is therefore published in full below.

DEFEND JOBS, PAY AND CONDITIONS – TRAIN OPERATING COMPANIES & NETWORK RAIL

 Offers have been tabled by both the Rail Delivery Group – which represents the 14 Train Operating Companies – and Network Rail over the weekend with the aim to resolve the ongoing and long-running national rail dispute. A summary of both sets of proposals are as follows:

TRAIN OPERATORS

A number of meetings have taken place between RMT and the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) in order to develop a proposal that we could put to our members as a potential way of resolving the current dispute.

This process has culminated with the RDG finally being given a mandate by the DfT, that was presented to RMT today (Sunday 4th December 2022). The proposals followed extensive discussions with the RDG including at Government Ministerial level. The mandate provided by the DfT is the basis of the RDG proposals.

These proposals set out a two-year pay package which provides 4% increases for years 2022 & 2023. These are way below the current and predicted future rates of inflation and equate to a 20% pay cut.

A conditional no compulsory redundancy commitment is set out, but only until 1st April 2024.

The proposals are also conditional on your union accepting the following:

1. That all Workforce Changes are accepted without reservation or industrial action;
2. Closure of all ticket offices and displacement of all retail staff;
3. Creation of a new multi-skilled station grades;
4. A mass job severance programme;
5. Driver-Only Operation of trains in all companies and on all passenger services;
6. New arrangements for mandatory Sunday working;
7. A review of all On-Train Catering services leading to cutbacks in provision and jobs;
8. Review of Fleet grades’ working practices and depot driving;
9. Flexible working contracts, working and rosters;
10. Mandatory adoption of new technology with no payment;
11. New Attendance Management scheme;
12. Review of Stood Off arrangements;
13. New annual leave and sick pay arrangements.

 Your union’s National Executive Committee is of the view that these proposals are not acceptable and believe that the RDG knew this was the case when they made the proposals. Therefore, your NEC has instructed me to immediately inform the RDG of this Union’s rejection of the proposals and to demand an urgent meeting with the RDG tomorrow (Monday 5th December), with this matter to be placed back before this NEC immediately following that meeting.

NETWORK RAIL

Proposals

Pay 2022

• A minimum uplift of a consolidated £1,750 or a 5% increase (whichever is greater) up to a maximum uplift of £3,500 to the annual base rates of pay effective from 01 January 2022
• Back pay for annual base pay, shift, and overtime, will be paid on the first possible pay day following acceptance of this offer

Pay 2023

• 4% increase to the annual base rates of pay effective from 01 January 2023

No Compulsory Redundancy

• No compulsory redundancies for general grades and bands 5-8 until 31 January 2025
• Voluntary redundancy scheme to be opened to Section Planners and Section Admin before 31 March 2023

Privileged Staff Travel

• Discretionary privileged leisure travel which provides a 75% discount on all leisure travel and includes family members.

Season ticket subsidy

• The season ticket subsidy cap of £2,750 will be removed and a discount of 75% uncapped will be applied for the total cost of the season ticket

Colleagues on Role Clarity contracts:

• The usual practice of using performance ratings to distribute pay increases will not be applied for 2022 or 2023
• We will revise the top and bottom of the salary bands by the percentage increases offered
• For colleagues who have reached the maximum of the revised salary band, salary increases will be made as a one-off, non-consolidated payment

Maintenance & Works Delivery (Construction Services) Standard Contract

• For colleagues employed on a contract other than IMC 25 Carillion/GTRM: o One-off voluntary opt-in window (dates to be confirmed) for Operatives/Technicians/Team Leaders to transfer to the equivalent standard (IMC 25 GTRM/Carillion) contract
• On promotion, current Operatives/Technicians to be offered choice of the standard (IMC 025 GTRM/Carillion) contract or next grade IMC contract applicable to them.

There are further conditions relating to our consultation with the members and the scheduled industrial action.

In summary, the Government has forced the RDG to make a proposal that everyone in the industry knows is not going to be acceptable. Your union is now demanding an urgent meeting tomorrow to address the issues.

The scheduled industrial action remains in place and the RMT National Executive Committee will consider both offers tomorrow afternoon following the meeting with RDG.