RMT members vote for first big showdown with Tory government

Network Rail workers vote overwhelmingly for a strike over pay as the government pushes ahead with plans to make it harder for public sector workers to stage walkouts.

RMT union members voted by 80 per cent for strike action and by 92 per cent for action short of a strike. The turnout was 60 per cent – exceeding the new minimum floor of 50 per cent the government wants to introduce.

Members were balloted after talks broke down between the union and Network Rail, who are offering workers a package including a £500 lump sum in 2015 and RPI inflation-linked pay rises over the next three years.

The RMT says the proposals fall “well short of what is required to maintain the living standards, the job security and the working conditions for nearly 16,000 staff across NR operations and maintenance”.

The vote result, which could mean chaos for millions of rail commuters, was announced hours after the new business secretary, Sajid Javid, confirmed that the government would press ahead with new laws designed to stop public sector strikes unless they are backed by 40 per cent of eligible voters.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’ve said that there will be a minimum threshold in terms of turnout of 50 per cent of those entitled to vote.

“We have also said that when it comes to essential public services, at least 40 per cent of people need to vote for strike action.

“And we’ve said we’re going to lift the ban on the use of agency staff when strike action takes place.

“That’s something we’ll give more detail on in the Queen’s Speech but it will be a priority. I think it’s also something that needs to be done.”

The Trade Unions Congress (TUC) has denounced the plan as a “democratic outrage” while the GMB union said the Conservatives formed a government with less than 40 per cent of the vote at the last election.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “This is a Government not so much on the side of hard-working people but Britain’s worst bosses – those who want their staff to be on zero-hours contracts, poverty pay and unable to effectively organise in a union so that they can do something about it.

“The Government’s proposals on union ballots will make legal strikes close to impossible. Union negotiators will be left with no more power than Oliver Twist when he asked for more.”

Mr Javid said the change was “something that needs to be done”, adding: “We need to update our strike laws and we’ve never hidden away from the changes we want to make.”

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) is also balloting its members, with the result due over the next week.

A strike by RMT and TSSA members at Network Rail (NR), including signallers, maintenance workers and admin staff, would cripple train services and would also give the new Conservative Government its first battle on the industrial relations front.

The unions must give seven days’ notice of any industrial action.

Mike Cash, General Secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) said: “It was on the cards that this government, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the idle rich and the bad bosses, would move quickly to tighten the noose of the anti-union laws around the workers’ necks at the earliest opportunity.”

“These proposed new laws would mean one form of democracy for the greedy political class and another for the organised working-class. The trade unions will unite to fight these attacks.”

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