Rail workers to strike on bank holiday Monday

Rail passengers have been warned that services will be at a “standstill” the morning after the Bank Holiday because of a strike by Network Rail workers.
Jonathan Brady/PA WireJonathan Brady/PA Wire
Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will walk out from 5pm on Monday May 25.

The workers, including signallers and maintenance staff, will also ban overtime for 48 hours on the Bank Holiday Monday and Tuesday.

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The union said services will be hit from the Monday but warned that the biggest impact will be on the Tuesday. “Services will be at a standstill,” said one official.

There is a programme of Network Rail engineering work being conducted over the bank holiday weekend.

The strike announcement follows a huge 4-1 vote for action from RMT members, well above a planned threshold being brought in by the new Government. The action poses the first big industrial relations test for the Conservatives.

The RMT said it has rejected the latest Network Rail (NR) pay proposals as falling “well short” of what is required to maintain the living standards, job security and working conditions for nearly 16,000 staff across NR operations and maintenance.

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Union members have rejected a four-year deal worth £500 this year and three years of increases matching RPI inflation as well as a no-compulsory-redundancy commitment to December 2016.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “Our members have decisively rejected the pay package offered by Network Rail and the failure of the company to make any moves whatsoever in light of the overwhelming vote in the ballot has left us with no option but to move to a rolling programme of industrial action.”