Deal to stop UK train strikes ‘in touching distance’, says Network Rail

 

Deal to stop UK train strikes ‘in touching distance’, says Network Rail

 

Chief negotiator says better communications could sway union members, as first of five days of rail strikes begins

 

Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor

@jessicaelgot

Tue 3 Jan 2023 08.47 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/03/uk-train-strikes-deal-network-rail-union

 

A deal to stop strikes is “in touching distance”, the chief negotiator for Network Rail has claimed, as drivers and staff began the first of five consecutive days of national rail strikes.

 

Tim Shoveller, Network Rail’s chief negotiator, suggested the pay offer would not be improved but claimed that better communication of the deal would begin to win over union members.

 

Shoveller said the network “only need 2,000 people who voted no last time to change their vote and the deal will pass”. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday: “Some members are coming back to work, and we are seeing increasing numbers come back to work, but that’s not the way to resolve the problem or the dispute.”

 

“The way to resolve that dispute is through an agreement and what we’re saying to the RMT is that it’s very clear from the referendum that they held, they did it very quickly, it was only open for a few days, that actually that was rushed, and it didn’t allow and give time for people to ask genuine questions there are associated with the reform elements of this deal,” he added.

 

“So, what we’re saying to the RMT is that we know which areas had been misunderstood by some of our staff, their members, and we want to make sure that we can work with the RMT now to make clarifications where there’s been misunderstanding and put the deal out again.”

 

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union at Network Rail and 14 train operators are striking for two 48-hour periods, starting on Tuesday and again from Friday.

 

 

With signalling staff among the 40,000 RMT members on strike, much of the railway in Wales, Scotland and less populous regions of England will not run at all, while service frequencies will typically be reduced to one train an hour on major routes.

 

Passengers were being urged to travel only if necessary, with about 20% of trains expected to run and scheduled hours of operation cut back to between 7.30am and 6.30pm.

 

The general secretaries of both Aslef and the RMT, which are on strike on Tuesday, said there was still a wide gulf between members and employers, as well as with the government.

 

The Aslef general secretary, Mick Whelan, told the PA Media news agency the union was “in it for the long haul”, adding: “They expect train drivers at these companies to take a real-terms pay cut – to work just as hard for considerably less – when inflation is running at north of 14%.”

 

Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary, also blamed the government for blocking a settlement, saying there was “an unprecedented level of ministerial interference”.

 

“We have worked with the rail industry to reach successful negotiated settlements ever since privatisation in 1993, and we have achieved deals across the network in 2021 and 2022 where the Department for Transport has no involvement.

 

“Yet in this dispute, there is an unprecedented level of ministerial interference, which is hamstringing rail employers from being able to negotiate a package of measures with us, so we can settle this dispute.”

 

The transport secretary, Mark Harper, denied the government had blocked any path to a settlement. Harper told Sky News: “There is a fair and reasonable pay offer on the table. There is not a bottomless pit of taxpayers’ money here. Taxpayers have put a huge amount of investment into the rail industry over the last few years when it was hit with a huge impact from the pandemic when people weren’t travelling.

 

“I think you have got to have an offer that is both fair to the people working in the industry but that is also fair to the taxpayer that is picking up the tab.”