Network Rail pay referendum: Vote No!


RMT members working for Network Rail are being balloted for a 3.8% pay rise. The ballot ends on Thursday 15 January.

The RMT NEC unanimously voted to recommend members accept this pay offer. 

However, less than a month ago, on 15 December, the RMT emailed its members, saying:



“We demanded:
1. An RPI+ pay increase with no strings, this being on base pay and all allowances, note your overall pay has deteriorated in real terms since 2021 by over 10%.
2. A minimum increase for the lowest paid to assist with the cost-of-living crisis.
3. Job Security, A no-compulsory redundancy agreement that provides job security for you and your family.
4. An ending to the performance-related pay bonus payments, which are prevalent within Network Rail Senior and Executive Management.
5. Improvements in annual leave.
6. Reduction in the working week and improving work-life balance.
7. Maintaining and improving staff travel facilities.


[...]


I hope that when we meet later this week, the company will be in a position to table a written offer that meets our demands to conclude the 2026 negotiations satisfactorily and one that the RMT National Executive Committee can recommend.
 
The company can afford to meet our demands for a genuine pay rise.”



Of all the seven points demanded by the RMT, the pay offer meets just one of these: a no-compuslory redundancy agreement, and that only lasts until January 2027.

That demand is, in itself, not good enough. RMT members are merely custodians of these railway jobs, and there should be no redundancies at all, compulsory or voluntary.

The other six of these demands have not been met and seem to have simply been thrown into the trash along with the turkey leftovers from Christmas.

All the fighting talk from the RMT before Christmas should not amount to nothing; members should vote NO to reject this offer.

Members should also bear in mind that the resources of company they work for is not a pie which they should be fighting for a bigger slice, or crumbs, from. We should not accept the idea that we can only haggle over limited resources, and must be bounded by what the company can afford, or cannot afford.

The question of our pay and conditions is not merely an economic one, it is a political one. The British government could, and should, provide more money to the railway sector to pay for improved infrastructure as well as pay and conditions for the workers that keep it going.

Vote NO in the referendum, and take the fight to the weak, unpopular, Starmer government.