RMT members who work for Network Rail in general grades and the non-management bands are currently being balloted on whether to accept the latest pay offer. The referendum is being conducted online and finishes at 10am on 20 May.
The latest pay offer is a 3.6% pay increase, in line with RPI in November 2024. The offer, however, comes with multiple strings attached to it which would erode national conditions and agreements. Unite and TSSA have already accepted this deal, but for this pay claim RMT have significantly more members than the other two unions combined.
The employer is pumping out propaganda to workers, urging us to accept the offer. RMT, on the other hand, is merely saying that it "cannot recommend the offer in its current form", but without any active campaign to organise members to vote no and develop a strategy for action to win a better offer. Activists and reps within the union, meanwhile, are sharing with each other messages to vote no in the referendum in various WhatsApp and social media groups.
Member should reject this offer. The offer provides very little to the lowest paid workers, allows management to keep their huge bonuses, does nothing to redress the erosion of pay in recent years and comes with far too many caveats. Rejection must be the first step towards taking action.
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