Train Managers on Avanti West Coast were due to strike on 22, 23, and 29 December, in a dispute over terms and conditions, primarily rest day working arrangements.
When bosses made a new offer, RMT put it to referendum — but also called the strikes off, despite the referendum closing before the strikes were due to begin.
The offer centred on a 1.25 x basic pay rate for rest day working for Monday-Saturday, and 1.5 x for Sundays. Workers have resoundingly rejected this miserly proposal, voting by an 84% majority, on an 83% turnout, to reject the offer. The bosses' previous offer, in response to which the December strikes were initially called, was rejected by a 93% majority on an 81% turnout.
Following the most recent referendum, new action has been called, involving strikes on Tuesday 31 December, Thursday 2 January, and every Sunday until 25 May. Even though the Sunday strikes are only one day in the week, calling them on a sustained basis is a show of seriousness and will undoubtedly impact the company.
It's abundantly clear the workers involved in this dispute are not going to settle for peanuts, and want to strike to win a better offer. So why did the union cancel the initial strikes? We could still have the Sundays throughout early 2025 to supplement the planned December strikes once the vote to reject was confirmed.
Looking ahead, the aim now will be to make the strikes as solid as possible, and look to coordinate action with disputes involving other grades and other TOCs. Stations and retail grades on Avanti West Coast also just voted by a large majority for strikes against new rostering arrangements, although sadly falling just short of the 50% turnout threshold. The result does, however, show that there is potential for coordinating disputes across grades.
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