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The latest reports suggests around half of RMT workers who are set to strike got pay rises and bonuses for two of the last three years, contradicting claims made by the hard-Left union’s boss. Around 20,000 workers for Network Rail received salary increases of 3.2 percent and 2.1 percent in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Both were linked to the RPI rate of inflation and workers pocketed £650 bonuses in both years – collectively worth £26million.
During the height of the pandemic, they experienced a pay freeze [2021] when the Government bailed out the industry, costing £1.2billion.
But despite this, the RMT has been offered pay increases by Network Rail of at least two percent for 2022.
The increase could be even bigger if the union is willing to accept modernising work practices, such as more workers being rostered at weekends.
The figures appear to contradict claims made by RMT boss Mick Lynch, who said in a recent interview: “They’re going to attack our terms and conditions… and we’ve had a pay freeze, we’ve missed two pay cycles with no increase during Covid and we’re now entering the third one.”
A spokesman for Mr Lynch said that he was referring to staff employed by train companies, which run services, and not Network Rail, which operates and maintains infrastructure.
But Tory MP Greg Smith, who sits on the Commons transport committee, said: “These figures show that the Network Rail railway workers have had fair pay rises for much of the last decade.
“Everyone accepts that 2021, at the peak of pandemic when the Government was borrowing billions to keep jobs safe, was a year pay rises couldn’t happen. But there’s an offer on the table now for this year.
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A No 10 source accused the union of being “thoroughly irresponsible” and warned that such action would inflict “pain and economic disruption on their fellow citizens in really tough times”.
The strikes range across the entire breadth of rail workers, from drivers, guards and catering staff to signallers and track maintenance workers.
The scope of the strikes is not entirely clear just yet. It is not known exactly how many services will be cancelled, or if trains will only be running for part of the day.
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