Rail union calls strike, says UK track owner reneged on deal

Britain faces further disruption to train services after a union called three days of national strikes, accusing track owner Network Rail Ltd. of reneging on commitments to reach a negotiated settlement on pay and jobs. 

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers said Tuesday in a statement that members will walk out on Thursday Nov. 3, as well as on Nov. 5 and Nov. 7.

Network Rail had initially agreed to negotiate a pay accord, the RMT said, only for it to seek to impose job cuts and less-sociable hours before writing directly to staff with an offer that had already been rejected.

Network Rail’s chief negotiator, Tim Shoveller, said in a separate statement that a two-year, 8% package including job guarantees through January 2025 -- instead of just next year, as previously mooted -- was ready to be put to staff. Around 1,800 of the state-owned firm’s 10,000 posts would still be cut, but through retirement and voluntary departures rather than redundancies.

Shoveller said that the RMT appears “intent on more damaging strikes rather than giving their members a vote on our offer.” Mick Lynch, the union’s general secretary, accused Network Rail of “a crass attempt” to exclude it from talks.

Britons have already endured months of turmoil on the railway as three major unions seek to pressure Network Rail and multiple train operating companies into a pay deal matching inflation, while securing guarantees against redundancies and wholesale changes to working hours.

The UK government is pushing rail firms to restructure operations after a system-wide slump in ridership as more people work from home following the coronavirus pandemic.

Shoveller said that the sector has a £2 billion ($2.3 billion) hole in its budget that’s “not going to change anytime soon,” and that the deal proposed by Network Rail is “fair and affordable.”

Services on London’s Tube and Arriva Rail’s Overground network will be hit by separate actions on Nov. 3, the RMT said.